By Joe Bavier

KINSHASA, April 5 (Reuters) - Suspected Hutu militia fighters killed three villagers and kidnapped 15 others this week in attacks in Congo's South Kivu province, a U.N. peacekeeping source said on Thursday.

Raids by ethnic militia are common in parts of eastern Congo despite landmark elections last year to draw a line under a 1998-2003 war and operations by the United Nations' biggest peacekeeping force to disarm them.

This week's attacks were blamed on Rwandan Hutu militias operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo since their country's 1994 genocide in which Hutu extremists slaughtered around 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus before being defeated by Tutsis, who now lead the Rwandan government.

Both attacks were on villages southwest of the provincial capital Bukavu in an area where humanitarian workers say militia violence has forced thousands from their homes in recent weeks.

"The first kidnappings took place on the night of the 1st-2nd of April. Seven people were taken that night. Then on the night of the 3rd-4th, eight people were taken," said the source in the 17,000-strong peacekeeping force, known as MONUC.

The attackers killed three people in the second attack and seriously injured four more, the source said.

"It's hard to say who did it. Local village people say it was the FDLR or the Rastas (both Hutu militias) but we haven't confirmed that ... This has happened before. It is indeed an ongoing problem," the source said.

But this time had been different, with mainly men abducted, rather than young women as frequently happened.

"This time they left a letter with two bullets. It contained the names of the next seven people they planned to kidnap."

The motive was not clear. During years of violence people have been abducted to carry looted food and goods, to fight, or, in the case of women, as sex slaves to fighters.

A group of villagers kidnapped by militias were allowed to go free on April 1, and U.N. staff say patrols by two mobile peacekeeper units in the area have increased pressure on militias to release people captured during attacks.

A three-year peace process ended the wider war that engulfed Congo for five years and killed an estimated 4 million people through violence, hunger and disease. Last year Congo held its free elections in over four decades.

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