Rwandan rebels kill 17 villagers

Rwandan rebels attacked villagers in neighboring eastern Congo with machetes, spears and hammers, killing 17, wounding 28 and seizing up to a dozen people, a local human rights worker said.

The attackers, who are based in the Democratic Republic of Congo, struck the village of Kanyola, rights worker Constantin Charondagwa said by telephone from Bukavu, about 30 miles from the village. Charondagwa said he had visited Kanyola and interviewed people who escaped the attack.

Rwandan rebels based in eastern Congo include members of Rwanda’s former army and extremist Hutu militias who led the genocide of more than 800,000 people in Rwanda in 1994.

The U.N. mission in Congo could not confirm the attack, but a spokesman said a team had been dispatched to the area.