DR Congo: Rwandan rebels blamed for the death of 14 people

Fourteen people were killed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo early Thursday morning, the army said in a sign of the ethnic tensions that persist in the conflict-torn region.

Nine other people were being treated in hospital for injuries.

The killings took place in Miriki, around 110km north of Goma, capital of North Kivu province.

According to local authorities and the military, the attack was planned by rebels from neighbouring Rwanda.

Bokele Joy, administrator of the Lubero area under which Miriki falls blamed the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda).

A local human rights defender, Souleymane Mokili, supported the army saying he had seen the bodies of the victims, which bore “machete and bullet” wounds.

The FDLR rebels have been regularly accused of heinous crimes against civilians in the area.

The rebel group was founded by some of the perpetrators of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide who fled into neighbouring Congo and is estimated by analysts to have more than 1,000 members.

The militia’s spokesman could not be immediately reached for comments.