Two killed in DRC's Virunga national park

Gunmen killed a guard and a driver's help while they were crossing Virunga, Africa's oldest national park in Democratic Republic of Congo's restive east, park authorities said on Thursday.

They ambushed a convoy overnight in the park in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Nord Kivu province, which is infested by rebel groups and militias, the Virunga National Park said in a statement.

The deaths followed a "nocturnal attack carried out by armed men on a civilian convoy carrying supplies that the guards were accompanying," it said.

"A second guard was wounded but his life is not in danger," it said.

Virunga, which is spread over 7 800km² over the borders of DRC, Rwanda and Uganda, is home to a world-famous population of mountain gorillas but has been hit by rising instability and violence.

A total of 176 park guards have been killed so far, according to a Virunga toll in March.

The park was closed for nine months following the killing of nine people including a ranger, but was reopened in February after a security review.