Burundi: 31 suspected rebels killed and 170 captured in recent fighting with army
Burundi’s army killed 31 suspected rebels and captured 170 others in fighting in the country’s north, a military spokesman said on Monday.
The fighting, which comes amid political unrest over the president’s controversial bid for a third term, has raised fears of a return to civil war in this central African country.
Military spokesman Col. Gaspard Baratuza told a news conference in northwestern Cibitoke province that six soldiers were wounded in recent fighting with suspected rebels, and that nearly 80 assorted weapons were seized.
Canesius Ndayimanisha, governor of northern Kayanza province, said that suspected rebels carried out two attacks inside Burundian territory on Friday after entering the country through the dense Nyungwe forest on the Rwanda border.