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Catholic World News News Feature

Nine Nuns Killed In Rwanda January 12, 1998

KIGALI (CWN) - Nine Catholic nuns were murdered in their convent in Rwanda's northwest province by Hutu rebels last week, government officials said on Monday.

Of the nine nuns, three were Tutsi, three were Hutu, and three were from the Congo Republic. The Independent Rwanda News Agency reported the rebels attacked the nuns with guns, machetes, and axes. "They (the rebels) first encircled the church of the nuns before breaking into their homes and massacring them," said an official, who declined to be named. The nuns were killed at Rwerere village on the border with the former Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Kigali said it could only confirm that five nuns had been killed and they had already been buried. Hutu rebels operating across the borders of Rwanda, Burundi, and the Congo Republic have increased their attacks on the populace of the three countries since December. Extremist Hutus massacred about 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 1994.