Rangers killed in Congo rescue effort

KINSHASA: Five park rangers were killed in a joint operation with the army to rescue an American journalist and three park rangers, who went missing in a wildlife reserve in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, a local official said yesterday.

Gunmen attacked the group late on Friday in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve in Mambasa territory. Some in the group escaped.

Mambasa administrator Alfred Bongwalanga said security forces and park rangers had launched a rescue operation that located the missing members of the group.

It was not immediately clear how the rangers were killed.

“There are five dead. They are all park rangers who were involved in the operation. They had been backing the army,” he said. – Reuters