11/27/2012 09:28 GMT
GISENYI, Rwanda, Nov 27, 2012 (AFP) - Hutu extremists based in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday crossed into Rwanda and attacked its forces along the border, the Rwandan army said.
The army "is fighting the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda that attacked in (the villages of) Cyanzarwe and Bugeshi" around dawn, spokesman Joseph Nzabamwita told AFP.
He was referring to an ethnic Hutu rebel group that fled Rwanda into DR Congo after the genocide almost two decades ago, and has been based there ever since.
Nzabamwita said the army had repulsed the rebels, who numbered around 100, and they had scattered.
"As we are talking some are fleeing back to DRC, others deep inside Rwanda," he said.
News of the attack comes as M23, a Congolese rebel group that Rwanda is accused of backing, agreed to pull out of the eastern DR Congo town of Goma that it seized one week ago.
There was no immediate indication on casualty numbers or on how long the fighting lasted, which took place in the foothills of the mountains on the DR Congo-Rwanda border.
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