Three killed in Burundi unrest
2011-04-15 21:11
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Bujumbura - Three people were killed overnight in Burundi in two separate attacks which the authorities blamed on "armed bandits" while locals said the country's security services were responsible.
Two of the dead were a man and his son who were murdered on the outskirts of the capital Bujumbura because they belonged to the former rebel National Liberation Forces movement, witnesses said.
"Innocent Ngendakuriyo and his 20-year-old son were dragged out of their home at around midnight. They were forced to kneel down and executed," a family member said on condition of anonymity.
"They were killed by secret service because they belong to the FNL. They were asked if they were card-holding members of the party before they were killed," said another witness who also asked his name not be given.
A local official said the attack was carried out by "armed bandits", the term routinely employed by the government to explain the wave of killings that has sowed terror across the country since political chaos erupted last year.
In Ruziba area, also on the outskirts of Bujumbura, a 4-year-old child was killed and four civilians wounded in an attack locals blamed on the police and a group of ruling party youth.
"Police was informed of an attack by armed bandits and intervened... Some people were kit by stray bullets," police spokesperson Pierre Chanel Ntarabaganyi told AFP.
Three ruling party supporters were killed in the same area on April 7, the latest in a cycle of tit-for-tat reprisals between regime supporters and former FNL rebels.
FNL leader Agathon Rwasa went back to the bush after pulling out of last year's elections, which he claimed were rigged by President Pierre Nkurunziza's party.
