WESTERN REGION

RUBAVU - Three Rwanda Defence Forces soldiers attached to 61 Battalion operating near Virunga National Park at Rwanda-DRC boarder are dead following a shoot out in incident that occurred Wednesday evening at a centre called Gasinzi; about 40km from Rubavu town .

According to eye witnesses who spoke to The New Times, the soldiers are believed to have been drunk on an illegal local brew (Kanyanga), and picked a quarrel as they were leaving the bar.

However, according to witnesses, the solider who pulled the trigger did not die instantly and was rushed to nearby Mudende health centre from where he died shortly after.

He shot to death his two colleagues before he turned the gun on himself.

The Executive Secretary of Bugeshi cell, Eric Kabera, said a search was mounted for the banned liquor.

"We suspect that the owner of the bar had hid the liquor, but we are still investigating and asking the residents what caused the dispute,” Kabera said.

When contacted, RDF spokesperson Maj Jill Rutaremara confirmed the incident but said the names of the deceased could not be released.

"It is a principle in RDF that we don’t reveal names of deceased persons before we inform their next of kin,” Rutaremara said by phone yesterday.

He added that despite the fact that it was known that the three got in a fight because they were drunk, further investigations will still be carried out.

The bodies of the three soldiers will be transferred to Kanombe military hospital for post mortem.

Ends