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KIGALI, Sept 2 (AFP) - Sixteen guerrillas of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) and two soldiers were killed when the rebels violated a ceasefire and attacked troops in northwest Rwanda, the defence ministry said Wednesday.
RPF forces used artillery and machineguns in pre-dawn attacks Tuesday on regular army positions at Kabona, Ndago and Kagogo in the region, the ministry said in a statement.
"More than a company of rebels" launched the attack which was fought off by troops. Two soldiers were wounded, the statement added.
The rebels also shelled Nyabwihongezi in the northwest and tried to occupy the Nyakatabire ridge, according to the ministry.
The FPR, consisting largely of exiles from the minority Tutsi people, first invaded Hutu-dominated Rwanda from neighbouring Uganda in October 1990.
The movement signed a ceasefire with the Rwandan government at Arusha in Tanzania on July 31 and went on to sign a peace pact in the same town last month.
On Saturday, Rwandan defence officials accused the FPR of infiltrating the Ngarama district of northeastern Rwanda, in another ceasefire violation that cost four rebel lives.
mgu/jpc/nb AFP AFP SEQN-0157
