Bujumbura - At least 100 rebels have been killed after a
cross-border attack against the central African nation of Burundi from the
Democratic Republic of Congo, a top military source told AFP Sunday.
A general in the Burundian army, speaking on condition
that he not be named, said the attack by the unidentified rebel group had been
defeated after five days of heavy fighting in the border area north of the
capital Bujumbura.
"After five days of non-stop military operations,
the armed group which attacked Burundi has been wiped out by our security
forces. In total, we killed 105 of them and captured four, out of a total of
the 121 who entered Cibitoke province from the DRC," the general said.
"We also seized a 60mm mortar, five rocket
launchers, machine guns and more than 100 assault rifles," he said, adding
the Burundian army had lost two soldiers. Other military sources said around 12
soldiers were killed in the fighting.
There was no further confirmation of the claim, with army
spokesperson Colonel Gaspard Baratuza declining to comment officially on the
fighting "while military operations in the area are still in progress”.
A previous toll given on Wednesday put the toll at 35
dead, including 34 rebels and one government soldier.
Burundian officials and witnesses said the group of
unidentified rebels crossed into Burundi overnight on Monday from DRC's eastern
Kivu region, a chronically unstable and resource-rich area that is home to
dozens of rebel groups.
Colonel Baratuza said troops had seized documents
allowing the army to get information on the size of the force and the identity
of their leaders, but he did not disclose the identity of the group.
'Teach a lesson'
Security forces then fought to prevent the rebels from
reaching the Kibira forest, an area used in the past by rebel groups as a base
to stage further attacks inside Burundi.
"The security forces, backed by the local
population, surrounded the group in Murwi commune, and chased them without
respite, giving them no time to recover or sleep," said the military
source.
Burundi opposition and civil society sources said they
had heard reports of rebels being disarmed and then executed by shooting or
with machetes, with the killings carried out by the Imbonerakure, a
controversial youth wing of Burundi's ruling CNDD-FDD party.
The Burundian military denied the allegations, but the
senior source acknowledge the security forces - which included soldiers back
from African Union operations in Somalia - wanted to "hit the rebels
hard" and "teach a lesson" to other rebel groups.
Previous attacks in Burundi's border region have been
claimed by a splinter faction of the National Liberation Forces (FNL). The main
body of FNL - a highly disciplined group notorious for singing hymns as they
carried out attacks - signed a peace deal with the Burundian government in 2009
and have since become a political party.
The rebels who still fight on have claimed a string of
attacks in 2014, most recently in October when they claimed to have killed six
soldiers, and vowed to "intensify" their raids ahead of presidential
elections in June.
The group, however, have denied they were behind the
latest attack.
Burundi, a small nation in Africa's Great Lakes region,
emerged in 2006 from a brutal 13-year civil war and its political climate
remains fractious ahead of the elections when President Pierre Nkurunziza, in
power since 2005, is expected to run for a third term in office despite
opponents' claims that that would violate Burundi's constitution.
