HUNDREDS of women were raped and then burnt alive after Rwandan-backed rebels stormed a female prison in Congo.
The sickening atrocity happened in the city of Goma during a mass break-out from the Munzenze jail last week.
The female section of the jail was torched, burning the women inmates aliveX/@RealDigital
AFPFriends and family were in shock as they gathered to commemorate the dead[/caption]
AFPRelatives bury a woman murdered in the violent spree[/caption]
M23 fighters clashed with the Congolese army in deadly gun battles in the city and then busted open the prison.
The UN said women inmates were butchered in their wing after rampaging male prisoners forced their way in at the notoriously overcrowded jail.
As thousands of male criminals fled, the jail was torched and the women were burned alive, according to Vivian van de Perre, the deputy head of the UN peacekeeping force in Goma.
Images show thick black smoke billowing into the sky after the horror on January 27.
Gut-churning tales of the violence inside soon began to emerge.
Reports suggest at least 141 jailed women were murdered, along with 28 young children who had been held inside with their mothers.
Van de Perre said: “There was a major prison breakout of 4,000 escaped prisoners.
“A few hundred women were also in that prison.
“They were all raped and then they set fire to the women’s wing. They all died afterwards.”
The atrocity looks to be the worst violence yet of the recent M23-led conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Local reports suggest that guards gunned down inmates as they tried to stop the chaos – but were overwhelmed.
Now, a week on from the disaster, Munzenze jail lies deserted and in ruins.
Huge parts of it were completely destroyed by the blaze and it was also looted in the wake.
AFPMourners gather round mass graves[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
