UN told of massacre of civilians in Congo

The United Nations has said itsinvestigators have been told that 966 civilians were massacred bytribal militias with machetes…

The United Nations has said itsinvestigators have been told that 966 civilians were massacred bytribal militias with machetes and guns on Thursday and buried inmass graves in the northeast of Democratic Republic of Congo.

"The investigating team heard that 966 people weremassacred. They identified 20 mass graves and visited 49seriously injured people in hospitals," the spokesman for theUN mission in Congo (MONUC) Hamadoun Toure told Reuters inKinshasa.

Witnesses said the massacre happened early on Thursday whenattackers descended on the town of Drodro and 14 neighbouringvillages near Bunia, the capital of Ituri District, which lies80 km from the border with Uganda.