KIGALI, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) rescued 74 civilians who were abducted during Saturday's armed attack in Nyamagabe district in southern Rwanda, it said on Tuesday.
The mission started immediately after the attack and there are no more Rwandans missing, defence and military spokesperson Innocent Munyengango told Xinhua.
Unidentified attackers torched three passenger vehicles Saturday evening in Nyamagabe, near the border with Burundi, killing two and injuring eight, the army had said late Saturday.
The death toll has risen to four after two died from injuries, the Rwandan army said Monday in a statement, adding that they pursued the assailants and killed three while the rest escaped into Burundi.
About 20 to 30 armed attackers waylaid vehicles along Huye-Rusizi road, said the spokesperson, adding that they stopped vehicles and ordered passengers to get off.
Rwandan soldiers freed the abductees when pursuing the attackers who fled to the Nyungwe forest and marched the abductees through the forest, he said.
The attackers started shooting at the stopped vehicles after they saw passengers were reluctant to come out, a witness on one of the vehicles told Rwandan national television Rwanda Television.
The attackers, who were dressed in ragged clothes, set fire on the vehicles when passengers were still aboard, he said.
The Rwandan army also said the area is secure now.
