Also, Congolese journalist Alfred Nzonzo Bitwahiki Munyamariza was reported to have been shot and killed in Rutshuru during a stampede that followed the attack on Kiwanja. However, it was later confirmed that he, along with his family, escaped after rebels destroyed his house with a rocket. The battle had ended by the end of the second day of fighting, with rebel forces wresting control of Kiwanja from the Mai-Mai. When the civilian population started to return to the town on November 7, 2008, they reported finding more than a dozen bodies in the town. The villagers said rebels had killed unarmed civilians suspected of supporting the Mai-Mai, but the rebels said the dead were militia fighters who had been armed. A U.N. official said there were two rounds of executions in the town. First the Mai-Mai arrived and killed those they accused of supporting the rebels, then the rebels stormed in, killing men they charged were loyal to the Mai-Mai. Human Rights Watch said at least 20 people were killed and another 33 wounded during the battle for the town. Rebel Capt. John Imani said about 60 people had been killed in the fighting, mostly Mai-Mai. The Human Rights Watch would later find that "at least" 150 had been "summarily executed" by both sides at Kiwanja. HRW also criticized MONUC peacekeeping forces, who had been only away at the time. Despite the pledges of peace by rebel leader Nkunda, fighting broke out on November 17, 2008, leading to the capture of Rwindi by rebel forces, which advanced throughout the region. Meanwhile, speculation of war crimes increased with UN reports of the death of 26 non-combatants in the village of Kiwanja, who were said to have been killed by rebels for working with government troops. The killings at Kiwanja were later confirmed at 150 or more deaths by the Human Rights Watch. Amongst brutalities was a roadblock formed of two dead Congolese army soldiers, serving as a warning to approaching forces. Recent fighting brought the death toll to approximately 100 civilians, with 200 wounded. On November 17, 2008, after a few days of heavy artillery and mortar fire exchanges between the rebels and the military, the rebels took control of Rwindi, the headquarters of Virunga National Park. Soldiers were reported to be in full retreat and disarray while the rebels marched into the town and continued further north toward Kanyabayonga in a single-file organised column.