Unidentified attackers torched three passenger vehicles in southern Rwanda on Saturday evening, killing two and injuring eight Cyitabi Sector of Nyamagabe District, near the border with Burundi.
Confirming the incident through a statement from the Ministry of Defence, the military was pursuing the attackers who had fled into a nearby Nyungwe Forest.
“We have been watching the situation in this area for some time now and have a good idea of who is behind today’s incident. We are in pursuit of the attackers and action will be taken against those responsible,” Lt. Col Innocent Munyengango, the military spokesman, said.
The military spokesman was not immediately available to give more details on Saturday’s attack.
The incident comes days after President Paul Kagame revealed that at least two Rwandan soldiers and an unknown number of rebels were killed when a group of attackers crossed into Rwanda from the Democratic Republic of Congo last week.
Kagame on Friday said that the group responsible for the earlier incident may have been carrying out an attack to test Rwanda’s defences.
While Kagame did not identify that group, rebel groups among those operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo include the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
A spokesman for FDLR said they were behind the attack.
The FDLR includes former Hutu militiamen responsible for Rwanda’s 1994 genocide who then fled into eastern Congo. Its presence on Congolese soil has been cited as a reason for a series of military interventions by Rwanda.
Kagame left open the possibility that the attack may have been mounted by a new group called RNC, one of several other groups which he said had joined forces with FDLR.
