NAIROBI, Kenya – At least six rangers were ambushed and killed in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, park officials said, as part of a wave of violence plaguing Africa’s oldest has park and still endanger the home of about a third of the world’s mountain gorillas.
Officials on Sunday attributed the attack to fighters from Mai-Mai, an umbrella name for a loose group of local militias struggling for power and resources in eastern Congo.
The park has been the scene of repeated attacks by rebels and militia groups for years, along with poachers and lumberjacks, which has killed hundreds of rangers.
The latest assault comes barely a year after attackers killed 17 people, including 12 rangers, in the park. Emmanuel de Merode, director of the park, was shot and injured in 2014, and tourists were abducted during visits to the national park.
The Virunga National Park, established in 1925 as the first national park of Africa, is located on an area of 3000 square kilometers with beautiful landscapes, thick forests and unparalleled biodiversity.
The park is known as a home for endangered mountain gorillas and also houses hundreds of bird species, reptiles and mammals. In 1979, the park was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The attack on the rangers, aged between 25 and 30, took place while they were patrolling on foot around 7.30am, the park said in a statement near Kabuendo, along the central part of the Virunga reserve. The rangers are ‘surprised’ and leave them ‘no opportunity to defend themselves’.
The rangers worked for the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation, the government agency in charge of protecting protected areas in Congo.
Park officials on Sunday lamented the “tragic loss of life” among the rangers, saying they were “working tirelessly and with dedication to protect the park and neighboring communities from the tyranny of armed groups.”
“Their sacrifice will not be forgotten, or will be in vain,” the statement said.
In addition, one ranger was seriously injured in the attack and was transferred to a hospital in Goma, the capital of the northern Kivu region in eastern Congo, according to the statement. “His injuries are no longer considered life-threatening,” park officials said.