Clashes kill 8 people in Burundi

  1. Posted on Thursday 28 October 2010 - 18:24
    Muhyadin
    Muhyadin Ahmed Roble, AfricaNews reporter in Nairobi, Kenya
    At least eight people were killed in clashes between Burundian soldiers and armed bandits in northwest of the country over two days and raids in capital Bujumbura.
    Burundi refugees
    Army spokesman Colonel Gaspard Baratuza said the clashes which happened Sunday night and Monday begun after the bandits killed a gold trader in Murwi district.

    "Soldiers who were based in the area intervened but the bandits staged an ambush and one of our men was killed," Baratuza said. Another victim was six year aged girl who died on Monday morning for her badly injured.

    "The army and the police gave chase to the bandits and caught up with them around midday Monday. New clashes ensued, in which four of the armed bandits were killed...," the colonel told AFP.

    The bodies of the bandits were not yet to know their identities, according to army spokesman.

    The eighth person killed in the recent violence was a police officer, who died in one of two attacks on the capital Bujumbura overnight, a senior police commissioner, General David Nikiza, said on Tuesday.

    The armed men raided a police post at Mugoboke around midnight, taking on the guards of Burundi's intelligence chief General Adolphe Nshimirimana, Nikiza said.

    “The police officer died in the second attack on Bujumbura's Musaga quarter after he tried to stop assailants who were looting and raping”, he added.

    Burundi has recently been challenged by a series of killings which government referred to two opposition groups whose leaders have gone into hiding of being behind the attacks.

    The National Liberation Forces had joined government last year, but its leaders Agathon Rwasa fled after local ballot in May which the opposition accused Burundi authorities of rigging.

    The United Nations is worryied about the situation. "The situation is extremely worrying. The risk of a return to violence should not be underestimated", said Charles Petrie, the UN secretary general's outgoing special representative to the country.

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