KINSHASA, Congo (AP) -- Renegade soldiers in eastern Congo recently massacred at least 30 civilians, including women and children, to avenge the deaths of three of their troops, the U.N. mission in Congo said Friday.

Troops slaughtered the civilians on December 17 in the village of Buramba because they suspected them of supporting Mayi Mayi militiamen in the area, the U.N. mission said in a statement.

"The mission says the exact number of civilians killed could be higher, given that the rebel government troops could have burned a certain amount of bodies and could have killed civilians in the hills overlooking Buramba," said a spokeswoman for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

 

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