14 killed in east Congo by suspected Rwandan rebels

Baku. 7 January. REPORT.AZ/ Fourteen people were killed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo overnight by suspected Rwandan rebels accused of repeated attacks in the area, local authorities and the military said Thursday.

The latest assault took place in Miriki, 110 kilometres (65 miles) north of Goma, capital of conflict-torn North Kivu province.

Report informs referring to the AFP, Bokele Joy, administrator of the Lubero area under which Miriki falls, said that, 14 bodies had been found.

"The FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) is responsible for this," Joy said, accusing a Hutu group based in eastern Congo, some of whose members are accused of taking part in the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda.

Confirming the death toll, Congolese military spokesman Mak Hazukay said the rebels slipped past the army's positions to carry out the attack using knives or other bladed weapons.

Speaking by telephone from Miriki, village chief Gervain Paluku Murandia told AFP his two wives and eldest daughter were among those killed.

A local human rights defender, Souleymane Mokili, corroborated the accounts, saying he had seen the bodies of the victims, which bore "machete and bullet" wounds.

Nine people were being treated in hospital for injuries, he added.