More than 300 people were killed when some 1,200 Hutu rebels attacked a jail in north-western Rwanda, Kigali officials said yesterday. The rebels were trying to free hundreds of prisoners awaiting trial on genocide charges.
The attack was repulsed on Monday night but clashes between rebels and the Tutsi-dominated army continued until Wednesday. "It was a big battle, but we managed to prevent their plans," a government official claimed.
The jail is situated about 100 km north-west of Kigali, on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Most of the inmates were awaiting trial on charges arising from the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
"A big force of the Interahamwe [Hutu militiamen] tried to take the jail to free their comrades, but their plans were foiled by the army," the official said. He added that the rebels had tried to blast their way through one of the fortified walls, and the resulting blaze killed dozens of prisoners.
The area was once the stronghold of the late Hutu leader, Juvenal Habyarimana, whose assasination set off the genocide. It is close to a vast national forest reserve from where Hutu rebels have being staging bold attacks against government positions.
Other Rwandan officials said nearly 100 rebels died in the fighting. They said two government soldiers were killed. The other casualties were prisoners killed in the blaze or civilians caught in crossfire during the battles that followed, they said.