The coup bid took place in the early hours of Sunday outside the residence of Economy Minister Vital Kamerhe in the northern Gombe area of the capital.
The attackers then went to the Palais de la Nation that houses President Felix Tshisekedi's offices, brandishing flags of Zaire, the name of the DRC under ex-dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, who was overthrown in 1997.
Shots were heard near the building, several sources say.
An army spokesman later announced in a message broadcast on national TV that defense and security forces had stopped "an attempted coup d'etat."
"It (the government) are trying to divert our attention from social and security problems," Joel, a civil servant, told AFP.
"I don't think that in the city center of the capital attackers could storm a minister's house or the Palais de la Nation without the authorities being informed," he said.
The home of new Prime Minister Judith Suminwa and the residence of Defense Minister Jean-Pierre Bemba was a planned target, army spokesman General Sylvain Ekenge said late on Sunday.
But they "could not identify the home" of Suminwa and had not been able to find Bemba at his residence, leading them to Kamerhe's home and the Palais de la Nation, he added.
Reports from neighboring Republic of the Congo say that during the firefight, shells landed in that country's capital, Brazzaville.
DRC army spokesman general Sylvain Ekenge told VOA: "We are sorry that those rockets fell there during the crossfire between assailants and the army. We are sorry that those rockets fell on the side of Brazzaville which doesn’t have anything to do with what happened here in Kinshasa."
Ekenge said that the government is investigating to see if the attackers had a presence in Brazzaville prior to or during the attack.
The plot was led by Christian Malanga, a man from the DRC who was a "naturalized American" and who was killed by security forces, Ekenge said.
The army spokesperson said: "We also have a naturalized British subject, the number two of the group."
He added that the group was made up of "several nationalities" and that around 40 of the attackers had been arrested and four — including Malanga — were killed.
Malanga's son, Marcel Malanga, was also among the assailants.
The exact motives of the plotters behind the coup bid remain unclear.
"The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo condemns the attempted destabilization of the institutions," the communications and media ministry said in a statement late on Sunday, with others also condemning the plot.
"I am shocked by the events this morning and very worried by the reports of American citizens allegedly being involved," U.S. ambassador to the DRC Lucy Tamlyn posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday.
"Rest assured that we are cooperating with authorities in DRC to the fullest extent possible, as they investigate these criminal acts and hold accountable any American citizen involved."
African Union Commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat is following events in the DRC with "great concern" and "strongly condemns" the attempted coup, the AU said in a statement.
The events come five months after Tshisekedi was re-elected in elections in late December with more than 70% of votes in the first round.
He became president in 2019 promising to improve living conditions in DRC — which boasts mineral riches but has a largely impoverished population — and to put an end to 25 years of bloodshed in the east.
The parties backing Tshisekedi won around 90% of seats in the parliamentary elections held the same day.
But he is yet to form a government.
Kamerhe was named in April as a candidate for president of the National Assembly, the DRC's main legislative body.
Source material for this article was provided by Agence France Press and by VOA reporter Eddy Isango.
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