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NAIROBI, March 10 (AFP) - An Italian nun, Antonia Locatelli, was shot dead Monday night in Nyamata, in southeastern Rwanda, as she tried to protect children in a school she ran.
Kigali official Francois Karera told Radio Rwanda the missionary was killed by unknown gunmen as she rushed out after hearing shouting.
Policemen fired back at the attackers, Karera said.
A diplomatic source, reached from Nairobi, said the nun was killed by soldiers at the mission where the school is located.
Rwandan authorities were trying to explain the shooting by saying the nun was shot by accident when she went outside after the curfew, but according to a doctor who examined her body she was shot at close range, making such a mistake unlikely, the diplomat said.
Locatelli, who had lived in Rwanda for many years, was buried Tuesday afternoon in Nyamata.
According to the latest official toll, 35 people have been killed in recent inter-tribal clashes between Tutsis and Hutus in the region, but several sources have said the real figure is much higher.
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