Malole (Great Seminary of Malole) in Kananga was ransacked by Kamwina Nsapu militants. It was the first time that they attacked a Roman Catholic target. Shortly after the attack, both Félicien Mwanama Galumbulula, the Bishop of Lwiza, and Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, the Archbishop of Kinshasa, condemned the violence, and Justin Milonga, the vice governor of Kasaï-Central, called for the Kamwina Nsapu fighters to negotiate with the government. MONUSCO troops also toured Nganza and Malole in Kananga to calm the situation. As a result of the clashes, many parents have stopped sending their children to school. However, on 26 February 2017, Justin Milonga, the vice governor of Kasaï-Central, said that the "insanity" needed to end and that children should resume going to school. On 15 April 2017, the government returned the body of Kamwina Nsapu to the militia, one of its key demands, as a way of easing tensions and recognised his successor, Jacques Kabeya Ntumba, as a customary chief, as failure to recognize Nsapu had been a trigger for the fighting. Regardless, fighting continued to escalate, with the time of April to June 2017 being the most violent phase of the rebellion. At the insurgency's peak, it was estimated that Kamwina Nsapu factions had grown to over 10,000 fighters. Local Chokwe and Pende who felt threatened by the rebels set up self-defense groups, with Bana Mura and Ecurie Mbembe being the most notable ones. These militias allied with government forces, and became proactive as well. Chokwe, Pende, and Tetela militant groups organized ethnic cleansing operations, driving Luba from large areas to deprive the rebels of supporters and recruits. Kamwina Nsapu rebels responded by increasing their attacks on non-Luba civilians. As the conflict continued to spread and escalate in violence, the government sent hardened troops from eastern Congo to fight the Kamwina Nsapu militia. The commanders of these reinforcements were "notorious for their brutality" and even included a former warlord who had once been sentenced by the government to death for his extreme behavior. Increasing reports surfaced of the military having massacred both captured rebels and Luba civilians who were suspected of supporting the insurgency. MONUSCO estimated that Congolese "state agents" had carried out 1,176 extrajudicial killings against protesters and anti-government activists in 2017, and that most of these killings occurred in areas affected by the Kamwina Nsapu rebellion. By October 2017, the uprising had been mostly contained by Congolese government