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Two British Hostages Freed in DRC


FILE - Virunga Park North Kivu, DRC, May 11, 2018. (VOA / Charly Kasereka)
FILE - Virunga Park North Kivu, DRC, May 11, 2018. (VOA / Charly Kasereka)

Two British tourists kidnapped in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been released, Britain's foreign minister Boris Johnson said Sunday.

A park ranger was killed in the kidnapping Friday, which took place in the village of Kibati near the edge of Virunga National Park, just north of Goma.

"My thoughts are now with the family of Virunga Park ranger Rachel Makissa Baraka who was killed during the kidnapping, and with the injured driver," Johnson said in a statement.

"I pay tribute to the DRC authorities and the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation for their tireless help during this terrible case," the statement went on, without providing further details of the kidnapping.

Virunga National Park is home to around one quarter of the world's remaining mountain gorilla population.

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