Two rangers have been killed and another wounded by suspected militiamen in the world famous Virunga National Park in DR Congo's volatile east, authorities said on Saturday.

A huge expanse on the border with Uganda and Rwanda, Virunga is the oldest nature reserve in Africa and is renowned worldwide as a sanctuary for rare species, including mountain gorillas.

But is also serves as a hide-out for armed groups active in the region for years.

The rangers were patrolling in the central sector of the park when they were attacked, the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN) said.

The dead rangers were aged 29 and 31. A third was injured and taken to hospital.

The ICCN said the assailants were suspected "Mai-Mai," using a generic term in the Democratic Republic of Congo to describe ethnic militias.

Unrest has plagued eastern DRC for decades, with over 120 armed groups roaming the mineral-rich region.

M23 rebels, who in recent months have seized swathes of territory in eastern DRC, have overrun large sections of the park.

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