Fighting erupted inside a national park in Congo housing endangered mountain gorillas Saturday, forcing rangers to flee for the second time in less than a week, conservationists said, according to AP. The clashes, involving fighters loyal to warlord Laurent Nkunda and government soldiers, took place in Virunga National Park, where some of the world's last remaining mountain gorillas live on the slopes of a volcanic mountain range that borders Rwanda and Uganda, the international conservation group WildlifeDirect said. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the fighting across North Kivu province, where the park is located, and tens of thousands more have fled into neighboring Uganda. About 300 people _ rangers and their families _ fled the park itself on Monday after skirmishes first broke out there. Wildlife groups said huge swaths of the park, including several patrol posts, had been occupied by Nkunda's insurgents and looted. Concerned about the fate of the gorillas, a few rangers returned Friday. In the time they were there they found only one five-member group, outside of the park but «vulnerable to crossfire,» WildlifeDirect said. The rangers reported hearing shelling and gunfire on Friday and Saturday, and fled again.
