IS-Linked Group Beheads Hostage In Video

A French hostage has been beheaded in a video released by an Algerian group linked to Islamic State.

Herve Gourdel, a 55-year-old hiker from Nice in southern France, was kidnapped on Sunday by Jund al Khilifa.

The group had given France a 24-hour deadline to stop its airstrikes against IS in Iraq.

French president Francois Hollande confirmed the video was genuine and denounced the killing as "cruel and cowardly".

He added that he will be chairing a special security meeting at the Elysee Palace on Thursday.

In the clip issued by Algerian militants, the tourist was seen kneeling with his arms bound behind his back, as four masked men read a message in Arabic condemning France.

Mr Gourdel was then pushed on to his side and held down.

Shortly after the group - known as the Caliphate Soldiers in English - released the video, French foreign minister Laurent Fabius insisted the abduction would not deter his nation's participation in a US-led offensive against IS.

The video was entitled A Message With Blood To The French Government, and began to circulate on jihadist websites on Wednesday.

It began with an excerpt of Mr Hollande making a speech, before showing Mr Gourdel in his final moments of life.

Prior to the mountain guide's beheading, Mr Hollande had insisted: "As grave as this situation is, we will not give in to any blackmail, any pressure, any ultimatum, no matter how odious, how despicable."

In a statement before news of the killing emerged, Mr Gourdel's family said they had learned of the kidnapping "with great pain", and described him as a "father, partner, son, brother and very dear friend".

Intelligence sources believe there could be 10 Western hostages still being held by Islamic State.

One Briton, David Haines, and Americans James Foley and Steven Sotloff, have been killed by the group in the past few weeks.

Islamic State has threatened to kill Alan Henning, a British aid convoy volunteer.

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Hannah Graham: Missing Student Suspect Held

The main suspect in the disappearance of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham has been arrested on a beach in Texas.

Police believe Jesse Matthew was the last person seen with the UK-born Ms Graham, who went missing on September 13 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Authorities obtained a felony warrant for his arrest late Tuesday. He has been charged with abduction with intent to defile.

Matthew, 32, was captured at a beach in the community of Gilchrist after police received a call reporting a suspicious person, the Galveston County Daily News reported.

Hannah Graham is a sophomore at University of Virginia

Matthews reportedly had pitched a tent on the beach with his car parked nearby.

Authorities told the newspaper that a check of the car's plates revealed it was the vehicle sought in connection with the case.

Charlottesville Police chief Tim Longo said the suspect was in custody in Galveston, Texas, and would be extradited to Virginia.

Mr Longo said that police were still searching for Graham.

"This case is nowhere near over," he said. "We have a person in custody but there's a long road ahead of us."

The disappearance of the teenager has shaken the college town, about 100 miles southwest of Washington, with hundreds of residents turning out to help look for her.

Authorities said Matthew, who has worked as a nursing assistant at the University of Virginia's medical centre since 2012, appeared at a police station on Saturday.

But he left after a brief discussion and took off at high speed, losing officers who tried to tail him.

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US Coalition Pounds IS Targets For A Third Night

US and Arab coalition aircraft have bombarded Islamic State targets in Syria for a third night as Barack Obama promised to "dismantle this network of death".

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates joined the operation to destroy oil refineries in eastern Syria which are capable of producing millions of dollars' worth of revenue for the group.

A mix of manned and remotely-piloted aircraft were used to target oil production facilities near Al Mayadin, Al Hasakah and Abu Kamal.

US Navy F-18E Super Hornets leave after receiving fuel over northern Iraq

A statement released by US Central Command said early indications suggested the strikes had been successful.

"These small-scale refineries provided fuel to Isil (Islamic State) operations, money to finance their continued attacks throughout Iraq and Syria, and an economic asset to support their future operations.

"The US conducted these strikes as part of the President's comprehensive strategy to degrade and ultimately destroy Isil.

"The US and partner nations will continue to conduct airstrikes against Isil in Syria and Iraq and support Iraqi forces as they go on the offensive against this terrorist group."

Syrian Kurds fleeing the Islamic State cross into Turkey

But Syrian Kurds who fled towns and cities overrun by Islamic State said the group had responded to the airstrikes by focusing its assault near Syria's border with Turkey.

Despite the coalition's military superiority, an intensifying advance by IS militants on the northern town of Kobani underscored the difficulty Washington faces using airpower alone.

"Those airstrikes are not important. We need soldiers on the ground," said Hamed, a refugee who fled into Turkey from Islamic State.

A teacher from Kobani who made it across the Turkish border said two of his brothers had been captured by the group.

Obama warned IS militants to "leave the battlefield while they can"

Mazlum Bergaden said: "The situation is very bad. After they kill people, they are burning the villages. When they capture any village, they behead one person to make everyone else afraid.

"They are trying to eradicate our culture, purge our nation."

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 14 militants and five civilians were killed in the airstrikes.

Some 140,000 Syrian Kurds have crossed into Turkey in the last four days alone, and authorities are preparing for many more.

US President Barack Obama has called on the world to join together to destroy Islamic State, which he branded a "network of death".

Addressing the United Nations, he vowed to keep up the pressure on the militants, warning them to "leave the battlefield while they can".

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Families Living In Fear In IS-Controlled Raqqa

By Jason Farrell, Sky Correspondent

Children in Syria are being taken from their families to be trained as Islamic State fighters and used as informants, according to a civilian who fled the city of Raqqa.

Former student Abu Abrahim Raqqawi gave Sky News a chilling account of life inside the IS-controlled city where he claimed children are being indoctrinated to become jihadists.

Abu, whose name has been changed, is able to talk because he was smuggled out of Raqqa two weeks ago but remains in regular contact with more than a dozen other underground activists in the city.

Abu Abrahim says there is no education for children in Raqqa

"They (IS) say to the young people, those between 16 and 18, 'Okay, we will give you money if you say who are talking about us or are saying something bad about us'.

"There is a camp for under-16 children. They took a lot of children without their families knowing, and it's very bad. It's just a special camp for young people. They make them like a bomb; a time bomb."

The US launched airstrikes against IS targets in Syria on Tuesday and Abu Abrahim said IS members in the city were killed after rockets struck their communications hub and a hospital used exclusively by the militants.

The US has launched airstrikes against IS targets in Syria

But there are mixed feelings about the Western military intervention.

Abu Abrahim said: "There is anger because the city is being destroyed but some accept they have to do a deal with the devil to get rid of IS.

"But others feel if the US cared about the people here, Obama would have acted when President Assad crossed the red line."

Here he is referring to the Syrian leader's alleged use of chemical weapons last year.

Several Syrian cities and IS strongholds were targetted in the attack

"There are a lot of executions, secret executions and public executions, especially after the Friday sermons - crucifying, beheading and things like that," he said.

He provided images to back this up; some showed children watching the gruesome events.

"There are no hospitals inside the city of Raqqa now. When there is an airstrike (previously from President Assad's forces) wounded people are taken to small hospitals in houses without any equipment," he said.

"They're dying in the street. ISIS have their own hospitals that do not allow citizens to go in."

The group have made rapid advances across swathes of Iraq and Syria

Abu Abrahim says there is no education in the city and some families are struggling to find food.

He claims IS fighters have also seized people's homes to house foreign fighters, but the biggest problem is access to medicine and hospital treatment.

His friends have been filming and taking photographs - posting images on a Facebook page called "Raqqa Is Being Silently Slaughtered".

One of the group was killed by IS when his activities were discovered. Despite being tortured, he didn't release the names of the others.

IS has ousted the Free Syrian Army from Raqqa - the original resistance movement to the Syrian leader Bashar al Assad is much diminished by the terrorist group across Syria.

Abu Abrahim said: "I think if the West wants to do something to kick ISIS out from Syria, they must bomb the Assad regime. If the Assad regime gets bombed and down, then easily the ISIS regime will get out of Syria because the FSA and all the fighters will just fight ISIS and not both ISIS and Assad."

IS fighters proclaim Raqqa is a paradise, but Abu says normal civilians are struggling for survival - that life in a terrorist-controlled city is one of fear, and lives are being risked to tell the real story of the city.

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Rebel Leader Hails 'Revolution' In Yemen

Large parts of Yemen's capital Sanaa have been taken over by Shia rebels in what their leader described as a "successful revolution".

Around 200 people were killed in fighting last week between the Houthi insurgents and government forces.

Yemen's president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has signed a power-sharing agreement with the rebels, who had called for the "corrupt" government to quit.

Rebel leader Abdel Malik al Houthi said the deal had been a victory for "all the people".

And he said it could lead to price cuts and economic reforms to ease pressure on Yemen's poorest amid fuel price rises.

In a dramatic power shift, the rebels had pushed deep into the capital and control the central bank and several military bases.

Mr al Houthi said in a televised speech: "These great efforts created this great success - victory - for all the people, forcing an answer to popular demands.

"If it is implemented, this agreement will also change the government, which the people called to fall, to fail, because it stood on an unjust, non-consensual basis."

The rebels have taken over key buildings in the capital

He said the rebels had also removed "the most dangerous obstacles facing the state".

This was a reference to the Houthis' main opponents - Sunni tribal fighters and a powerful general, Ali Mohsen al Ahmar, who is backed by Sunni Islamists but was defeated by the rebels.

Mr al Houthi also vowed to go after al Qaeda in the country, calling the terror group the "remaining obstacle".

He said the way to battle them was through building a strong army and security forces with support of the "popular committees", a phrase used to refer to his rebel forces.

The president has defended himself, insisting he had not surrendered the capital to the rebels and saying a foreign "conspiracy" was at work.

Yemen's president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi

That appears to be a veiled reference to Iran, which he has accused of arming and supporting the Houthis. Iran denies doing so.

Yemen has struggled to recover after veteran autocrat Ali Abdullah Saleh was ousted amid Arab Spring protests in 2011.

The military split between forces loyal to Mr Saleh and those backing General al Ahmar, who had backed the uprising and went on to become a military adviser to Mr Hadi.

The divisions contributed to the rise of al Qaeda militants and the advance of the Houthis.

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Abu Qatada Cleared Of Terror Charges In Jordan

Radical preacher Abu Qatada has been cleared of terror charges in Jordan and is expected to be released from prison there today.

Qatada was deported from the UK last year following a long-running battle by the Home Office which cost millions of pounds.

The Palestinian-Jordanian preacher was once referred to as "Osama Bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe" by a Spanish judge.

He was facing charges over the so-called "millennium plot" to target Americans and Israelis during New Year celebrations in Jordan.

Qatada's family members celebrated in the Amman court

Sky's Tom Rayner, at the trial in Amman, said Qatada seemed to be expecting the verdict and gave a "wink and a kind of smile" to his family when he stepped into the caged dock.

The Home Office said there was no chance of him returning to the UK.

Qatada was deported and flown out of RAF Northolt last year

"Abu Qatada remains subject to a deportation order and a United Nations travel ban. He is not coming back to the UK," said a spokesman.

Qatada had already been acquitted in June over a series of 1998 bomb plots.

The cleric had previously been convicted and sentenced on both charges by a trial in absentia, but had avoided Jordanian justice after getting asylum in the UK.

Theresa May signed an agreement with Jordan to allow Qatada to be deported

He lost his refugee status in 2002, when he was detained on suspicion of terrorism offences, and was held in indefinite detention at high-security prisons, but never stood trial.

Qatada was eventually thrown out of the country in July 2013 after a high-profile campaign by the Government, which argued he was a threat to national security.

It came after a 'memorandum of understanding' between UK and Jordan assured he would receive a fair trial.

The agreement stipulated that although he would be tried in a military-security court, the case would be heard by a civilian judge.

It also said that evidence which may have been acquired through torture would not be eligible in the case.

With that guarantee in place, said Sky's Tom Rayner, "the judge said there simply wasn't enough evidence to convict him".

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Ebola Lockdown: 92 Bodies Found In Sierra Leone

Ninety-two bodies and at least 56 new infections have been discovered in Sierra Leone during a nationwide ebola lockdown.

The three-day measure came into effect on Friday to try to stem the worst ebola epidemic on record.

The country's six million residents were ordered to stay indoors as volunteers circulated to educate people about the outbreak and isolate the sick.

Some 123 people contacted authorities during the lockdown, believing they might be infected.

Of these, 56 tested positive for ebola, 31 tested negative and 36 were still awaiting their results, officials said.

Residents largely complied with the plan, and the streets remained mostly deserted, except for ambulances and police vehicles.

On Sunday evening, even before the lockdown officially ended at midnight, residents in some parts of the capital Freetown emerged onto the streets to celebrate.

Police in the western part of the city said they had made a number of arrests in an attempt to enforce the lockdown in its final hours.

A health worker helps a woman to an ambulance in Monrovia, Liberia

Earlier in the day, Stephen Gaojia, head of the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC)  that leads the national Ebola response, said a few areas had still not been reached by the government's teams.

"Even though the exercise has been a huge success so far, it has not been concluded in some metropolitan cities like Freetown and Kenema," he said.

The EOC announced last night that it would not extend the campaign in order to reach the remaining households as it had earlier said might be required.

"It cannot be extended because its objectives have largely been met," Mr Gaojia said.

British officials recently announced they were setting up a treatment centre in Kerrytown following a direct request for help to combat the outbreak.

The 62-bed facility will treat victims of the disease, including local and international health workers and volunteers.

The West Africa outbreak has so far killed more than 2,600 people and infected around twice as many since March.

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Blair: Airpower Alone Not Enough To Defeat IS

Tony Blair has said Britain should not rule out sending forces into Syria and Iraq to counter the threat posed by Islamic State.

In a 6,500-word essay, the former prime minister said that while no desire existed for ground engagement in the region, airpower alone would not be enough to defeat the group.

"We have to fight groups like ISIS," he said. "There can be an abundance of diplomacy, all necessary relief of humanitarian suffering, every conceivable statement of condemnation which we can muster.

Tony Blair: 'The enemy we're fighting is fanatical'

"But unless they're accompanied by physical combat, we will mitigate the problem but not overcome it.

"Airpower is a major component of this to be sure, especially with the new weapons available to us. But - and this is the hard truth - airpower alone will not suffice.

"If possible, others closer to the field of battle, with a more immediate interest, can be given the weapons and the training to carry the fight.

"I accept fully there is no appetite for ground engagement in the West. But we should not rule it out in the future if it is absolutely necessary."

France and the US have launched airstrikes on IS positions

The militant Islamist group has made rapid territorial gains across the region and released graphic videos depicting the beheading of two US journalists and British aid worker David Haines.

Mr Blair warned that any solution to the threat posed by the extremist group would involve casualties. 

"Because the enemy we're fighting is fanatical, because they are prepared both to kill and to die, there is no solution that doesn't involve force applied with a willingness to take casualties in carrying the fight through to the end," he said.

The US and France have already launched airstrikes against IS targets, and the UK has not ruled out joining the bombing campaign.

He said the lessons learned from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq had improved Western forces' "capacity and capability" to respond to the threat of IS and similar groups.

Former taxi driver Alan Henning is being held by the group

"To those who say that after the campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq we have no stomach for such a commitment, I would reply the difficulties we encountered there are in part intrinsic to the nature of the battle being waged," he said.

"And our capacity and capability to wage the battle effectively are second to none in part because of our experience there."

Former taxi driver Alan Henning, from Manchester, is currently being held hostage by IS after he was kidnapped in the Syrian town of al Dana while volunteering with a humanitarian aid convoy.

The group has threatened to kill Mr Henning and warned Britain and America not to get involved in another Middle East war.

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Rwandan Militia Commander 'Tired Of War'

Key Events In Rwanda

Updated: 8:40am UK, Monday 22 September 2014

Up to five million people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo during two decades of violence which followed the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

 Many of those blamed for the mass killings fled to DRC, which was then known as Zaire.

Here is a timeline of the key historical events affecting Rwanda:

:: January 1, 1932: Belgium, which controlled Rwanda, introduced identity cards which distinguished between the majority Hutus and minority Tutsis for the first time. These cards helped identify Tutsis in the 1994 massacre.

:: November 5, 1959: A Hutu rebellion against the Belgian colonial power and the favoured Tutsis led to 150,000 Tutsis fleeing to Burundi.

:: July 1, 1962: Rwanda and Burundi became independent, with the Hutus ruling in Rwanda and Tutsis retaining power in Burundi.

:: December 1, 1963: Up to 20,000 Tutsis were massacred in Rwanda in response to a cross-border attack by exiled Tutsis in neighbouring Burundi.

:: June 10, 1987: Exiled Tutsis from Rwanda formed the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in Uganda.

:: October 1, 1990: A 7,000-strong RPF force attacked Rwanda from Uganda following the death of thousands of Tutsis at the hands of the government-trained Interahamwe militia.

:: August 4, 1993: The Arusha Accord brought an end to the civil war and a power-sharing agreement between the RPF and the Hutu-led government.

:: October 5, 1993: The UN Security Council established a peacekeeping mission and around 2,500 UN military personnel were deployed.

:: April 6, 1994: An aircraft carrying President Habyarimana of Rwanda and President Ntaryamira of Burundi was shot down, killing all on board.

:: April 7, 1994: Rwandan Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, a moderate Hutu, and 10 Belgian Peacekeepers were murdered by Rwandan government soldiers.

This marked the start of 100 days of genocide which saw up to one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus killed by extremist Hutus.

:: July 19, 1994: The RPF took control of Rwanda and set up a Government of National Unity. About two million Hutus, including some involved in the genocide, fled to Zaire fearing revenge attacks.

In the following 20 years, fighting continued in DRC, with Rwanda accused of invading to pursue Hutus implicated in the genocide and of supporting rebel movements there.

Numerous ceasefires failed to stop the bloodshed and the UN declared that by 2001, 2.5 million people had died.

Further peace deals followed, with agreements to hand over Hutus blamed for the genocide in Rwanda.

But more fighting erupted in 2008 as Rebel general and Tutsi Laurent Nkunde's forces clashed with Congolese troops. Rwanda denied backing Nkunde.

Other groups, like the infamous Lord's Resistance Army and pro-Hutu militias intent on the overthrow of the Rwandan government, have operated inside DRC and added to the bloodshed.

More recently, warlords like Bosco Ntaganda and Thomas Lubanga have been brought to justice, but Congolese and Rwandan troops clashed on the countries' borders as recently as June this year.

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IS Releases Gruesome Full-Length Film

Freed Islamic State Hostages Return To Turkey

Updated: 3:51pm UK, Saturday 20 September 2014

Dozens of Turkish hostages seized by Islamic State militants in Iraq have been freed in what Turkey's president described as a secret rescue operation.

The 49 hostages - including diplomatic staff, special forces soldiers and children - were taken from the Turkish consulate in Mosul in Iraq on June 11 after the city was overrun by IS fighters.

Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said they were released after a "pre-planned operation" involving the country's intelligence services.

"After intense efforts that lasted days and weeks, in the early hours, our citizens were handed over to us and we brought them back to our country," he said.

The release of the hostages came as a full-length propaganda film produced by IS emerged.

It was not immediately clear what Turkey had done to secure the return of the hostages, but independent broadcaster NTV said no ransom was paid and there were no clashes with insurgents during the operation.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: "I thank the Prime Minister and his colleagues for the pre-planned, carefully calculated and secretly conducted operation throughout the night.

"MIT (the Turkish intelligence agency) has followed the situation very sensitively and patiently since the beginning and, as a result, conducted a successful rescue operation."

Police formed a cordon outside the airport in the southern Turkish city of Sanliurfa as the hostages arrived in buses with curtains drawn.

The Prime Minister, who cut short an official trip to Azerbaijan to travel to Sanliurfa, hugged the hostages before boarding a plane with them to the capital, Ankara.

Mr Davutoglu did not provide further details on the circumstances of the release, but said it was carried out through "MIT's own methods".

Hostages quizzed by journalists as they got off the plane said they could not go into detail as to the nature of their ordeal, but a couple of them hinted at ill treatment and death threats.

Alptekin Esirgun told the state-run Anadolou Agency that militants held a gun to Consul General Ozturk Yilmaz's head and tried to force him to make a statement.

Mr Yilmaz thanked Turkish officials involved in his release but did not give details about their captivity or how they were freed.

He refused to take more questions, saying: "I haven't seen my family for 102 days. All I want to do is to go home with them."

Seizure of the hostages put Turkey in a difficult position as a summit of 30 countries met in Paris last week to co-ordinate their response to IS.

The nations agreed to "support the Iraqi government by any means necessary - including military assistance".

Turkey resisted joining the coalition and the United States was careful not to push Ankara too hard as it worked to free the hostages.

The hostage release comes as Turkey opened up its border to thousands of Kurds fleeing clashes with IS in neighbouring Syria.

Under tight security, the refugees, mostly women and children, crossed to the Turkish side of the border in the southeastern village of Dikmetas.

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Freed Islamic State Hostages Return To Turkey

Dozens of Turkish hostages seized by Islamic State militants in Iraq have been freed in what Turkey's president described as a secret rescue operation.

The 49 hostages - including diplomatic staff, special forces soldiers and children - were taken from the Turkish consulate in Mosul in Iraq on June 11 after the city was overrun by IS fighters.

Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said they were released after a "pre-planned operation" involving the country's intelligence services.

"After intense efforts that lasted days and weeks, in the early hours, our citizens were handed over to us and we brought them back to our country," he said.

One the freed hostages is reunited with their family

The release of the hostages came as a full-length propaganda film produced by IS emerged.

It was not immediately clear what Turkey had done to secure the return of the hostages, but independent broadcaster NTV said no ransom was paid and there were no clashes with insurgents during the operation.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: "I thank the Prime Minister and his colleagues for the pre-planned, carefully calculated and secretly conducted operation throughout the night.

"MIT (the Turkish intelligence agency) has followed the situation very sensitively and patiently since the beginning and, as a result, conducted a successful rescue operation."

The PM (R) kisses Turkish consul-general Ozturk Yilmaz after his release

Police formed a cordon outside the airport in the southern Turkish city of Sanliurfa as the hostages arrived in buses with curtains drawn.

The Prime Minister, who cut short an official trip to Azerbaijan to travel to Sanliurfa, hugged the hostages before boarding a plane with them to the capital, Ankara.

Mr Davutoglu did not provide further details on the circumstances of the release, but said it was carried out through "MIT's own methods".

Hostages quizzed by journalists as they got off the plane said they could not go into detail as to the nature of their ordeal, but a couple of them hinted at ill treatment and death threats.

Mr Davutoglu (L) with the freed captives in Ankara

Alptekin Esirgun told the state-run Anadolou Agency that militants held a gun to Consul General Ozturk Yilmaz's head and tried to force him to make a statement.

Mr Yilmaz thanked Turkish officials involved in his release but did not give details about their captivity or how they were freed.

He refused to take more questions, saying: "I haven't seen my family for 102 days. All I want to do is to go home with them."

Seizure of the hostages put Turkey in a difficult position as a summit of 30 countries met in Paris last week to co-ordinate their response to IS.

The hostages were taken in Mosul and returned to Sanliurfa

The nations agreed to "support the Iraqi government by any means necessary - including military assistance".

Turkey resisted joining the coalition and the United States was careful not to push Ankara too hard as it worked to free the hostages.

The hostage release comes as Turkey opened up its border to thousands of Kurds fleeing clashes with IS in neighbouring Syria.

Under tight security, the refugees, mostly women and children, crossed to the Turkish side of the border in the southeastern village of Dikmetas.

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Rwanda Militia Commander 'Tired Of War'

Key Events In Rwanda

Updated: 9:32am UK, Sunday 21 September 2014

Up to 5 million people have died in DR Congo during two decades of violence which followed the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Many of those blamed for the mass killings fled to DRC, then called Zaire.

Here is a timeline of key historical events in Rwanda:

:: January 1, 1932: Belgium, which controlled Rwanda, introduced identity cards which distinguished between the majority Hutus and minority Tutsis for the first time. These cards helped identify Tutsis in the 1994 massacre.

:: November 5, 1959: A Hutu rebellion against the Belgian colonial power and the favoured Tutsis led to 150,000 Tutsis fleeing to Burundi.

:: July 1, 1962: Rwanda and Burundi became independent with the Hutus ruling in Rwanda and Tutsis retaining power in Burundi.

:: December 1, 1963: Up to 20,000 Tutsis massacred in Rwanda in response to a cross-border attack by exiled Tutsis in neighbouring Burundi.

:: June 10, 1987: Exiled Tutsis from Rwanda formed the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in Uganda.

:: October 1, 1990: A 7,000-strong RPF force attacks Rwanda from Uganda following the death of thousands of Tutsis at the hands of the government-trained Interahamwe militia.

:: August 4, 1993: The Arusha Accord brought an end to the civil war and a power-sharing agreement between the RPF and the Hutu-led government.

:: October 5, 1993: UN Security Council establishes a peacekeeping mission to oversee the Accord and around 2,500 UN military personnel were deployed.

:: April 6, 1994: Aircraft carrying President Habyarimana of Rwanda and President Ntaryamira of Burundi was shot down, killing all on board.

:: April 7, 1994: Rwandan Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, a moderate Hutu, and 10 Belgian Peacekeepers were murdered by Rwandan government soldiers.

This marked the start of 100 days of genocide which saw up to 1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus killed by extremist Hutus.

:: July 19, 1994: RPF takes control of Rwanda and sets up a Government of National Unity. About  2 million Hutus, including some involved in the genocide, flee to Zaire fearing revenge attacks.

In the following 20 years, fighting continued in DRC with Rwanda accused of invading to pursue Hutus implicated in the genocide and of supporting rebel movements there.

Numerous ceasefires failed to stop the bloodshed and the UN declared that by 2001, 2.5 million had died.

Further peace deals followed, with agreements to hand over Hutus blamed for the genocide in Rwanda.

But more fighting erupted in 2008 as Rebel General and Tutsi Laurent Nkunde's forces clashed with Congolese troops. Rwanda denied backing Nkunde.

Other groups, like the infamous Lord's Resistance Army and pro-Hutu militias intent on the overthrow of the Rwandan government, have operated  inside DRC and added to the bloodshed.

More recently, warlords like Bosco Ntaganda and Thomas Lubanga have been brought to justice but Congolese and Rwandan troops clashed on the countries' borders as recently as June this year.

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