Bombardments Rain On Eastern Congo
-- International Herald Tribune
-- International Herald Tribune
KILIMANYOKA, Congo: Bombs, rockets and mortar shells exploded in volatile eastern Congo on Wednesday, and the Congolese Army reported that it had been attacked by troops from neighboring Rwanda.
The bombardments, heard by journalists at an army camp, appeared to be taking place less than eight kilometers, or five miles, from a village where thousands of refugees have sought protection from the rebels who have advanced through the area toward Goma, a city of 600,000 people 20 kilometers to the south.
Rwanda's Tutsi-led government denied Congo's accusation that it had sent troops across the nearby border to help the fighters of the renegade General Laurent Nkunda, who says he is fighting to protect the region's tiny Tutsi minority.
Nkunda has threatened to take Goma, the provincial capital, despite calls from the United Nations Security Council for him to respect a cease-fire brokered by the United Nations in January.
The UN has 17,000 peacekeepers in Congo - the agency's biggest mission in the world - trying to halt the rebellion and protect the local population.
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