KINSHASA (AFP) — Two Democratic Republic of Congo army officers were killed in an attack by Rwandan Hutu rebels in the restive eastern part of the country, a military commander said.
The major and captain were killed Monday while travelling in their vehicle after coming under attack by Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) rebels, said the army commander for the Nord Kivu region, Colonel Bobo Kakudji.
Three other soldiers were wounded in the attack by the rebels who took over during the night a road near Rutshuru on the border with Uganda, and the rebels were killed by guards travelling in other vehicles, said Kakudji.
The FDLR is one of a myriad of armed groups operating in DR Congo's east that have caused widespread displacements and carried out human rights violations over the past decade, experts say.
Some members of FDLR -- whose numbers are put between 4,500 and 6,000 -- participated in Rwanda's 1994 genocide. Hutu extremists killed some 800,000 people, mainly minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus, during Rwanda's 100-day genocide.
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