Burundi: US urges citizens to leave after Friday violence

According to witnesses and pictures circulated on social media, some bodies had their hands tied behind their backs.

Blasts and gunfire echoed around Bujumbura for most of Friday after unknown gunmen attacked three military sites.

Burundi army spokesperson Colonel Gaspard Baratuza has confirmed the latest death toll and said dozens of others are injured in the skirmishes.

A senior police official in the flashpoint Nyakabiga district said there were 20 young men killed in the neighbourhood, and a Reuters witness saw at least 16 bullet-ridden bodies in the same area.

Some residents accused authorities of trying to hide evidence of a massacre by the security forces in an apparent retaliation for the attacks.

On Sat., Burundi’s military stated in that 87 people had been killed in Friday.’s assaults, which brought the capital to a standstill. One witness described some of the victims as “kids” and said they had been shot execution-style “through the top of the skull.’ “It is an absolute horror those who committed this are war criminals” the witness said”. “I have counted 14 dead bodies with my own eyes”, he said, blaming “soldiers and police” for the killings.

Attacks targeting the security forces have escalated with rebels armed with assault rifles rocket-propelled grenades and mortars attacking police convoys and targeting government installations. As the extent of the bloodshed became apparent government supporters held marches in Bujumbura and other towns to celebrate what the administration portrayed as its victory over the insurgents.

It was the worst outbreak of unrest since a failed coup in May.

After Friday’s attacks, “fighting continued into the night and the corpses found in these neighborhoods this morning are enemies”, Baratuza added. “Even now, security forces are collecting the bodies”, said Karerwa Ndenzako, a government spokesman.

The ethnic clashes over the weekend left dead bodies littered on the streets of the city.

Hundreds of people opposed to the president’s third term have been imprisoned since April when it was announced that Nkurunziza would stand for a third term, sparking months of violent street protest and a failed coup.

And until now, battle lines in Burundi’s crisis have have been drown along the political divide.

More than 220,000 people have fled the violence to neighbouring Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Congo.