New investigations reveal the scale of the deadly attack that killed former NZSAS soldier Justin Conaglen, with allegations Rwandan forces may have tracked a surveillance drone to the team’s position. David Fisher reports.
The battle in Congo that cost former NZSAS lance corporal Justin Conaglen his life left about 20dead or wounded, including at least eight killed, it has been reported.
The scale of the attack has emerged alongside claims the Rwandan military was responsible, with one source suggesting the attackers may have tracked a surveillance drone back to the force’s position.
It has also emerged former US Green Beret and UFC fighter Tim Kennedy, who was seriously wounded in the same battle, is now recovering at Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre near Washington.
The new details come from Reuters and the New York Times investigations, with both linking the men to a private military operation run by Blackwater founder Erik Prince.
Conaglen had taken leave without pay from the NZDF in March before formally leaving the military in August.
He was killed the following month, on September 17, in an ambush in South Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where Government forces have been fighting Rwanda-backed M23 rebels.
Reuters reported two sources blamed the Rwandan military for the attack, while a source working for the Congolese Government suggested Rwandan forces may have tracked a surveillance drone back to the team’s position.
Another source with direct knowledge of the attack said its sophistication suggested Rwandan involvement. Rwanda had not responded to Reuters’ request for comment.
Former NZSAS operator Justin Conaglen.
Reuters reported the team from Vectus Global was travelling between locations when attacked. The precise location of the ambush remains unclear, as does the role Conaglen and the other foreign contractors were performing.
Kennedy, 47, survived three gunshot wounds to the leg, Reuters reported. Another foreign contractor was also wounded.
The dead included at least seven Congolese, while a Congolese security source said villagers were likely among the casualties. It remains unclear whether civilians were among those killed or wounded.
Vectus Global, a company linked to Prince, was contracted by Congo’s Finance Ministry to increase mining revenues by tackling mineral smuggling, corruption and tax fraud.
UN investigators later found the agreement also contained a secret military component, including strategic advice to Congolese forces, aircraft and the recruitment of former foreign military personnel.
The Herald has approached Vectus Global for comment but it has not yet responded. The company declined to comment to Reuters and the New York Times.
The Times separately reported that Conaglen and Kennedy were among private military contractors accompanying Congolese soldiers when they were ambushed.
Former Green Beret turned UFC fighter Tim Kennedy was injured in the same incident that claimed the life of former NZSAS lance corporal Justin Conaglen.
A person close to Prince described the attack as a “long ordeal” made worse by a lack of support from Congolese forces.
After the September 17 ambush, Prince’s officials sought aircraft to evacuate casualties, with Kennedy taken through Burundi to Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg before returning to the United States, the Times reported.
The Times reported that seven Colombian contractors working for Prince had been killed in a separate battle earlier in September, citing a person briefed on the incident and a report it had seen.
The US State Department has declined to comment on Kennedy, citing privacy. In a statement, a spokesman said the Trump administration placed the highest priority on the safety and security of Americans.
The spokesman said there was “no military solution to the conflict in eastern DRC” and pointed to the Washington Accords brokered by President Donald Trump as laying the groundwork for lasting peace and economic prosperity in the region.
The Herald had earlier reported veteran conflict journalist Robert Young Pelton’s account of the incident, relayed on X, in which he said Conaglen was killed and Kennedy seriously wounded.
Pelton, who has extensively investigated private military companies and Prince’s operations, described Kennedy as part of what he called a “Tax Brigade” private military contracting element.
The reference was apparently to Prince’s operation protecting mining revenues, combating smuggling and improving tax collection for the Congolese Government.
Pelton said Kennedy had been medically evacuated through Bujumbura and Johannesburg, an account broadly corroborated by the subsequent New York Times reporting.
Former Green Beret and Delta Force operator Brent Tucker also reported the incident on his Tier1 Podcast, saying Kennedy had been part of a three-man team.
“There were three of them. Beside Tim Kennedy who was shot, I believe four times, there was a Kiwi, a New Zealander, an SAS member that was a part of the contract. He died. And the third guy also was hit multiple times.”
Conaglen was returned to New Zealand last week and his family, from Northland, have been supported by his former NZSAS colleagues. The New York Times reported Conaglen was cremated on October 1. A service was held in Northland on Thursday and family were joined by soldiers from the elite unit.
David Fisher is based in Northland and has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years, winning multiple journalism awards including being twice named Reporter of the Year and being selected as one of a small number of Wolfson Press Fellows to Wolfson College, Cambridge. He first joined the Herald in 2004.
