Gunmen attack airplane in DR Congo, no victims

GOMA, DR Congo, Sept 1, 2010 (AFP) - Gunmen on Wednesday attacked a plane carrying three members of a US aid group shortly after landing in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the pilot and the group said.

Armed men opened fire on the plane carrying members of the International Medical Corps (IMC) minutes after landing, forcing its passengers and crew to flee into the forest for cover, the pilot said on condition of anonymity.

"After about three hours, we went back out when things had calmed down," he said, adding that the assailants "did not steal anything but they damaged the communications system."

He said that he returned with the airplane but no passengers to the regional capital of Goma, where he had started out.

The Los Angeles-based IMC said in a statement its three personnel on the plane and three waiting for them had emerged safe from the forest after the incident.

"After the shooting had ceased they were able to walk out of the bush where they were hiding, approximately five kilometres (three miles) away. Local guides and a national staff member located and helped retrieve them," it said.

UN peacekeepers and development workers then arranged their return to Goma.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The medical aid workers had flown into the eastern village of Kilambo to assess the situation after a recent mass rapes in the nearby village of Luvungi, IMC said.

The incident was the second recent attack against planes belonging to carrier Goma Express after an Indian co-pilot was kidnapped by Mai-Mai militiamen for five days in late July.

Three airlines operate the route from Goma to Kilambo, where the lack of a real runway forces pilots to land and take off on a stretch of paved road.

Most planes that fly the route carry minerals from a mine near Kilambo.

Several armed groups have operated in the eastern DR Congo for more than a decade, making the vast region highly unstable.



(c) 2010 AFP