UVIRA, DR
Congo
Two Democratic Republic of Congo soldiers were killed in an "incident" with Burundi troops at the Lake Tanganyika border, Congolese sources said Tuesday.
A local official in Mboko, in eastern DRC, said the two sides exchanged gunfire after the Congolese military "attacked Burundian fishermen from whom they had taken five litres of fuel". |
"The
incident came about due to a lack of communications, but also because of the
darkness of the lake," DR Congo army spokesman Dieudonne Kasereka told
AFP.
"The
Congolese navy was on a reconnaissance patrol when it was mistaken for bandits
by the Burundian navy," he added.
Two
Congolese were killed and another captured during the fighting which happened
on Monday night, he said.
Burundi's
government disputed the details of the incident as well as the toll.
In a statement released late Tuesday, Burundi's public security ministry said its soldiers had attacked "a group of four bandits armed with guns" around 2 am, shooting dead two of the men while the other two drowned in the lake.
"The
identity of these bandits remains unknown. Investigations are ongoing,"
the ministry said, adding that its forces had seized weapons from them,
including two Kalashnikov rifles.
A local
official in Mboko, in eastern DRC, said the two sides exchanged gunfire after the
Congolese military "attacked Burundian fishermen from whom they had taken
five litres of fuel".
Tanganyika
is the second largest lake in Africa, running nearly 680 kilometres (425 miles)
north to south.
Its shores
are in four countries; DRC, Burundi, Zambia and Tanzania.
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