5 children in Congo killed by an unexploded grenade that detonated while they played with it
By APThursday, October 7, 2010
Grenade found in eastern Congo kills 5 children
KINSHASA, Congo — Congolese police say a grenade has killed five children in a small village in volatile eastern Congo.
Burinyi village police chief Mutula Mukulumanya says the children found the unexploded grenade Thursday on their way to fetch water from a well. He says it detonated as they were playing with it.
He told U.N. Radio Okapi the children are related.
He says he was surprised to see such an explosive, as the village is not near a military camp. He says police couldn’t identify the device.
Conflict in eastern Congo has been fueled by festering ethnic hatred left over from the 1994 slaughter of over a half-million Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda, and Congo’s subsequent civil wars which drew neighboring countries in a rush to plunder Congo’s mineral wealth.
