Maurice Aguru Mamba, commander of the corps for the protection of national parks and natural reserves in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) accused Rwandan Hutu rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), of being involved in the fatal attack at Virunga National Park, Daily Mail UK reported on Thursday.
Seventeen people including 12 rangers were killed in the attack on Friday, April 24.
The rangers and civilians were killed just more than a month after the park was closed on March 19 to curb the spread of coronavirus. Mamba said the information was received from credible sources.
The park's initial investigation suggested that the civilians were attacked before the rangers.
“The rangers were on their way back to their headquarters when they encountered a civilian vehicle that had been attacked and subsequently came under a ferociously violent and sustained ambush.”
Two mountain gorillas from the park melted hearts on the internet in 2019 when a picture of them posing for a selfie next to their caregivers went viral. It isn't clear whether either of the men in the viral picture were among those who died in the attack.
