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GENEVA, April 14 (AFP) - At least 30 Red Cross workers had been killed in the recent carnage in Rwanda, in the biggest loss of life in the organization's 75-year history, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said Thursday.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which is separate from the federation, said it could not confirm this death toll but said there were indications some of its Rwandan staffers had been killed.
The ICRC also reported a narrowing of its activities after the slaughter of six injured people Thursday as they were being evacuated by Red Cross workers from the capital Kigali to a field hospital.
An ICRC spokesman said an armed gang shot dead the injured people but did not fire on the Red Cross workers. After the incident, the ICRC stopped its evacuation operations and will now concentrate on treating the numerous casualties of fighting already in its hospitals.
The committee said it had lost contact with some of its workers in Rwanda. But it said it had no plans currently to withdraw from the east African country, torn apart by ethnic bloodletting since its president and the president of neighboring Burundi died in a plane crash last week.
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