Hundreds of Soldiers Go on Rampage in West

Hundreds of Congolese soldiers rampaged in the relatively stable west of the country, beating up civilians and looting homes after finding a colleague hacked to death, officials said.

The troops were ex-members of the People's Armed Forces of Congo, one of many rebel factions integrated into Congo's new military after a five-year civil war officially ended in 2003.

There was no word on casualties in Mbandaka, 370 miles northeast of the capital, Kinshasa, a region that has largely escaped the fighting that has rumbled on in other areas since the wider war was declared over.