By Godfrey Olukya
KAMPALA, Uganda (AA) - The Congo army rescued 26 hostages Saturday who were kidnapped by ADF rebels.
Lieut. Pascal Sagara, a security officer in Ituri province, told Anadolu that during the operation the army killed two rebels and recovered four AK-47 assault rifles.
According to the coordinator for the Convention for the Defense of Human Rights (CRDH), John Vuleverio, the hostages were recently kidnapped while working in their gardens during an incursion by ADF rebels.
He told reporters that a group of armed ADF rebels grabbed the victims, mostly women and children, and took them into the bush. He said he alerted the army which began a search until they freed the hostages.
ADF rebels originated in the late 1990s in Uganda where they attacked the army and government institutions to overthrow the regime of President Yoweri Museveni.
They were later overpowered by the army and fled to the Congo forests from where they attack villages.