Burundi rebels attack capital
2004-02-06 13:50
Bujumbura - One civilian was killed in Burundi's capital overnight during a half-hour mortar attack by the central African country's last active Hutu rebel group, the National Liberation Forces (FNL), according to Major Adolphe Manirakiza of the army, speaking on Friday.
The FNL "fired six mortar shells on Gihosha district from around 22:30 (20:30 GMT). One civilian was killed and there was some damage," Manirakiza said.
The attack lasted about 30 minutes "until a military intervention put a stop to it," he added.
Residents of the district in the east of Bujumbura said that one of the four mortar shells that landed there struck a house and killed two people.
The other two shells fell on Mutanga, in the north of the city, causing slight damage to a house which a journalist visited on Friday.
The FNL is active in the Bujumbura Rural province, which encircles the capital.
FNL spokesperson Pasteur Habimana declined to comment on the attack.
The last time the FNL admitted shelling Bujumbura, in September, three civilians and a soldier were killed.
In Bujumbura Rural the FNL is faced with an offensive led jointly by government troops and the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD), another armed Hutu group that made peace with the government last year.
The army claimed to have killed about 30 FNL fighters on Saturday in a battle 20km east of Bujumbura, a day after 15 army soldiers and eight FDD fighters were reportedly killed in the same area by the FNL.
Last month, FNL officials met President Domitien Ndayizeye in the Netherlands, the first such meeting between representatives of the group and the government.
Since Burundi's civil war broke out in 1993, more than 300 000 people, mostly civilianns, have been killed.
- SAPA