Hutu Rebels Slaughter 58 Rwandans, Official Says
Hutu rebels armed with farming tools hacked 58 people to death after sneaking into northwestern Rwanda, a government official said Tuesday.
The rebels attacked the village of Ngugo, near the border town of Gisenyi in western Rwanda, on Friday and started massacring people in their homes, Gisenyi Gov. Jean-Baptiste Muhirwa said.
“They indiscriminately hacked to death babies, women, children, old people, regardless of whether they were Tutsi or Hutu,” Muhirwa said. The carnage would have continued if the army had not intervened, according to reports.
Muhirwa said 64 other villagers were wounded in the attack and eight were missing, apparently kidnapped by the rebels.
The attack was the second in a week in northwestern Rwanda.
On Feb. 4, assailants swinging machetes and hoes slaughtered 33 people.
The military believes that the assailants were Hutu rebels who crossed into Rwanda from neighboring Congo, formerly Zaire.
Thousands of people have been killed since Hutu rebels stepped up attacks in northwestern Rwanda more than a year ago, after the return of more than 1 million Rwandan Hutu refugees.
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