A search is underway in the Democratic Republic of Congo for a soldier who shot dead at least 13 people - nine of them children - in a dispute over a funeral.

Army officials say the officer appears to have been angry at having missed his son's funeral.

He opened fire at a memorial gathering late on Saturday before fleeing. The soldier's wife was among those injured at the scene - in the village of Nyakova, on the banks of Lake Albert in Congo's eastern Ituri province.

She is said to have ordered the boy's burial while the officer waited to find out when he could be relieved of his duties.