Tutsis Flee Homes Amid Hutu Attacks

At least 600 Tutsis have fled their homes fearing attacks by Hutu rebels, opponents of the Tutsi-led government that took control after the country’s 1994 genocide, a U.N. official said Saturday.

The Tutsi refugees left homes in Gitarama province, 19 miles west of Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, to seek safety at government offices in central Rwanda.

U.N. human rights officials and workers with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees interviewed the refugees at Nyabikenke district offices and gave them aid, U.N. human rights official Ian Martin said.

Rebel attacks have increased in recent weeks, with at least 48 people killed in central Rwanda since June 24. The army suspects a band of up to 50 insurgents.