Congo rebels 'massacre 300'

More than 300 people, many of them women and children, have been massacred in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the Rome-based missionary news agency Misna has reported.

According to Misna, the victims were shot, stabbed or clubbed to death. Many of their bodies were then thrown into a river - the massacre lasted all night until dawn, eyewitnesses say.

The rebels are trying to overthrow the government of Laurent Kabila

Misna reports that the killings were committed by members of the main rebel group, the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), fighting DR Congo President Laurent Kabila.

The rebels deny the charge as "surreal".

BBC Rome correspondent David Willey says the Misna agency, which collates reports from thousands of Catholic mission stations in Africa, is usually reliable.

Bodies 'scattered'

The agency says the killings took place overnight 14-15 May at the village of Katogota, 60km (40 miles) south of Bukavu.

Misna quoted a survivor as saying: "The massacre started at sundown and lasted from 1930 on Sunday until 0500 on Monday.

"Some of the bodies of the victims, who were scattered over a vast area inside and outside the village, were dragged to the river and some of them abandoned in the water," the survivor said.

The massacre started at sundown and lasted from 1930 on Sunday until 0500 on Monday

Survivor

Independent reports suggest the violence began after a high-ranking officer in the Burundi army, which supports the RCD rebels, was shot dead on Sunday.

Burundi, Uganda and Rwanda support a rebel coalition fighting the government of President Kabila, who is backed by troops from Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia.

The missionary agency said panic started in Katogota after the officer was killed, because the population feared they would be held responsible.

Officers from the rebel force managed to restore calm, but soldiers returned at nightfall to attack the civilians.

The rebels had accused the villagers of supporting Mr Kabila's government.

Father Giulio Albanese, director of the Misna agency, said the casualty figure was expected to rise as further information became available.

Rebels' denial

The RCD says the Misna story is completely false, and a rebel spokesman described it as surreal.

RCD rebels admitted fighting had broken out

The RCD acknowledged there had been clashes around Katogota and that one of its officers was killed, but says the violence came from its enemies.

The RCD says it is carrying out its own investigation, while emphasising that calm has been restored and villagers who fled are now returning to Katogota.

On Friday, the RCD dismissed a report by an international human rights group accusing them of torturing and killing civilians in rebel-held areas in the east of the country.

An RCD spokesman, Kin-Kiey Mulumba, rejected the allegations and offered to co-operate with a United Nations investigation and punish any of its fighters found responsible.

The report, released earlier in the week by the New York-based Human Rights Watch, said Congolese rebels and allied Rwandan army units had committed rape and murder on a massive scale.