Conaglen had taken leave without pay from the NZDF in March before formally leaving the military in August.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s position.<\/p>\n
Another source with direct knowledge of the attack said its sophistication suggested Rwandan involvement. Rwanda had not responded to Reuters\u2019 request for comment.<\/p>\n
Former NZSAS operator Justin Conaglen.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Kennedy, 47, survived three gunshot wounds to the leg, Reuters reported. Another foreign contractor was also wounded.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Vectus Global, a company linked to Prince, was contracted by Congo\u2019s Finance Ministry to increase mining revenues by tackling mineral smuggling, corruption and tax fraud.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
The Times separately reported that Conaglen and Kennedy were among private military contractors accompanying Congolese soldiers when they were ambushed.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
A person close to Prince described the attack as a \u201clong ordeal\u201d made worse by a lack of support from Congolese forces.<\/p>\n
After the September 17 ambush, Prince\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The spokesman said there was \u201cno military solution to the conflict in eastern DRC\u201d and pointed to the Washington Accords brokered by President Donald Trump as laying the groundwork for lasting peace and economic prosperity in the region.<\/p>\n
The Herald had earlier reported veteran conflict journalist Robert Young Pelton\u2019s account of the incident, relayed on X, in which he said Conaglen was killed and Kennedy seriously wounded.<\/p>\n
Pelton, who has extensively investigated private military companies and Prince\u2019s operations, described Kennedy as part of what he called a \u201cTax Brigade\u201d private military contracting element.<\/p>\n
The reference was apparently to Prince\u2019s operation protecting mining revenues, combating smuggling and improving tax collection for the Congolese Government.<\/p>\n
Pelton said Kennedy had been medically evacuated through Bujumbura and Johannesburg, an account broadly corroborated by the subsequent New York Times reporting.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n