Congo

The United Nations says at least 30 civilians were massacred in eastern Congo in an apparent reprisal attack for the killing of three dissident soldiers.

A team of U.N. investigators says renegade Congolese forces attacked Buramba village in mid-December, targeting civilians it believed supported pro-government fighters.

The investigators say among the dead are women and children. It found some burned corpses and others killed in the hills surrounding Buramba. It says the town was looted and completely deserted.

Buramba is in Congo's restive North Kivu province where fighting broke out last month between former Rwandan-backed rebels, who are supposed to be part of Congo's new army, and regular army forces.

The United Nations says the massacre was in revenge for the killing of three dissident soldiers who were trying to steal rice by pro-government Mai Mai fighters militiamen.