Bodies of about 500 Tutsi civilians killed by Hutu militias on June 17, 1994 lie scattered inside a Catholic church in Nyamata, Rwanda, Africa, during the Rwandan civil war. The Rwandan civil war broke out on April 7, 1994, and about 10,000 Tutsi civilians took refuge in the former Catholic Church in early April 1994. However, Hutu militiamen cut a hole in the brick wall and fired grenades inside; between April 14 and April 19, 1994, approximately 10,000 people were killed in the Nyamata church compound alone. Behind the church is a mass grave where approximately 45,308 genocide victims were buried.
Hutu militias stormed the church and shot people inside it with machetes. Altar scarves are still covered in blood. After the massacre, many Tutsi civilians were also killed in the surrounding areas. Around 50,000 corpses were buried in graves around the Nyamata church building, located about 30 km south of the capital, Kigali. Holes in the walls and bullet holes in the ceiling remain. The only items left behind by the victims were their clothes and identification cards. The IDs, which identified whether they were Tutsi or Hutu, had special significance.
The Rwandan genocide broke out between April 7 and July 15, 1994, during the Rwandan civil war. Over a period of about 100 days, the ethnic Tutsi minority and some moderate Hutus and Twa were killed by armed Hutu militias. The Tutsi death toll was estimated at approximately 500,000 to 800,000. The scale and brutality of the genocide shocked the world. No country intervened to forcibly stop the killings. Most of the victims were killed in their own villages and towns, many by neighbors and fellow villagers. Hutu gangs sought out and massacred victims hiding in churches and school buildings. Hutu militias killed victims with machetes and rifles. Sexual violence was rampant, and it was estimated that approximately 250,000 to 500,000 women were raped during the genocide.
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