Goma: Suspected Hutu militiamen have killed 16 people, including 12 rangers, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga National Park, a government official said, in the deadliest such attack in Virunga's recent history.

About 60 fighters from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda ambushed a convoy of civilians that was being protected by 15 rangers, said Cosma Wilungula, director of the Congo Institute for Nature Conservation. Many others were seriously injured, he said.

Virunga National Park is home to more than half the global population of mountain gorillas. Credit:New York Times

Virunga sits on the forest-covered volcanoes of central Africa and is home to more than half of the global population of mountain gorillas. It is Africa's oldest national park and largest tropical rainforest reserve, covering 7800 square kilometres.

"The guards were not the target and died while assisting the civilian vehicle that had been caught under fire from the attackers," the Virunga National Park said in a statement.