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Eight killed, 18 wounded in Rwanda attack
KIGALI, Oct 6, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Gunmen killed eight people and injured 18
in an overnight attack in northern Rwanda near the Volcanoes National Park,
famous for its mountain gorilla sanctuary, police said Saturday.
Tourism officials insisted that all visitors to the park were safe after
the attack in Musanze district, near the border with the Democratic Republic
of Congo.
A spokesman described the attackers as a “group of terrorists carrying
mainly crude weapons”.
He added: “The terrorists killed eight people, six by use of crude weapons
and two by shooting.”
The 18 people were taken to hospital, he added.
The security forces were trying to track down the attackers, a police
statement added.
The Rwandan Development Board issued a statement to allay fears about
tourists at the nearby park.
“Security organs have contained the situation and order is restored. All
visitors to Volcanoes National Park were and continue to be safe,” it said.
The area has repeatedly been targeted by Rwandan rebels operating from the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
One such group is the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda,
created by Rwandan Hutu refugees in eastern DRC after the 1994 genocide of
Tutsis by majority Hutus in Rwanda.
The last attack by rebels in this region happened in December and resulted
in the deaths of two Rwandan soldiers.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0823 hrs