CHILDREN snatched from Congo streets were trained to kill and forced to fight in a brutal ethnic war, the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor said yesterday as the tribunal opened its historic first trial.

Children as young as nine were snatched from the streets and trained to kill by Congo warlord Thomas Lubanga, the International Criminal Court’s historic first trial heard today..

Warlord Thomas Lubanga calmly pleaded not guilty to exploiting hundreds of child soldiers “to kill, pillage and rape” as his trial finally began at the International Criminal Court today

The International Criminal Court’s historic first trial will begin today with a Congolese warlord facing six charges of recruiting and sending child soldiers to fight and die in bloody ethnic battles.

The world’s first permanent international criminal court is due to formally begin work today with a landmark hearing.

UNIDENTIFIED attackers fired on United Nations offices in the northeastern Congolese town of Bunia, a day after UN troops detained army and security chiefs of a tribal militia.

Armed tribal fighters have warily approached new checkpoints set up by French troops today in the war-torn town of Bunia in north-eastern Congo.

TWO days of clashes between rival ethnic groups in a troubled Congo region killed 120 people, a tribal leader said yesterday.