A woman was publicly raped, whipped and decapitated by Congo rebels who later drank her blood after she served them ‘forbidden fish’.

Crowds cheered when the woman was dragged naked through the streets of Luebo to her death after the rebel leader sentenced her and her step-son served the fish in their family restaurant, reports the Metro.

The Kamuina Nsapu rebel fighters stop having sex, washing themselves, eating meat and fish when they enter battle and they believed eating the meal had removed their protection.

Video footage has surfaced on Whatsapp after it was circulated after being filmed on April 8. Luebo resident told France 24: ‘They said she gave them beans that contained pieces of a small, local fish.

‘Convinced that she had broken their protection charms, the council of rebels led by a man named Kabata sentenced both the woman and the son of her husband’s second wife [the young man was also working there that day] to commit incest in public.’

The rebels, after the public rape, beheaded the woman and the young man, believed to be in his 20s, with machetes, several then drank their blood.

The bodies were left on show in the town centre before being moved to a local cemetery. The killings took place when the rebels held Luebo, which has a population of 40,000, for 20 days from March 31 before the Congolese army forced them out.

During their short grip on power they killed about ten people, including two police officers and Luebo’s administrator’s as well as burned buildings, took over the local church and banned people from working and school.

The rebel movement cyrstalised when tribal chief Kamuina Nsapu was killed by the Congolese army in August 2016. His death sparked widespread violence and horrific crimes including rapes, torture and the use of child soldiers.

The violence has claimed more than 3,300 lives, according to the influential Roman Catholic Church, and displaced 1.4 million people with both the Government backed militia and the rebels accused of atrocities.