Over 20 Bodies Found in Streets of Burundi’s Capital Among Unrest

In coordinated attacks, gunmen stormed three military installations in Burundi on Friday. Gunfire and explosions rocked the capital, frightening civilians who hid in their homes.

He said the army later killed 12 of the attackers. Both insisted on anonymity because they are not authorized to speak with the media.

Baratuza Friday said the attackers’ intention was to steal weapons to use to free prisoners.

Alarmed by the violence, the United Nations Security Council met Friday following a request from France, with UN chief Ban Ki-moon saying the attacks risked triggering “a further destabilisation of the situation”, according to his spokesman. “We are living in fear”, said Claire Biguda, a resident of the city’s Nyakabiga neighborhood, who was locked up in her house along with her husband and two children. More than 220,000 Burundians have fled the country as refugees since the violence started, according to the United Nations refugee agency.

Yesterday’s firefights are the heaviest since a failed coup in May, sparked by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term, which he later won in disputed elections in July. Twelve attackers were killed and 21 captured, with five soldiers also sustaining injuries, said Baratuza, adding that “the army has defeated them seriously”.

In 2005, Burundi ended its 12-year civil war pitting rebels from the Hutu majority – including one group headed by Nkurunziza – against what was at the time a Tutsi-led army.

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. Another soldier at the ISCAM military academy said one soldier died there.

“The members of the Security Council demand that all armed groups put aside their arms and cease all forms of destabilizing activities in order to end the cycle of violence and retaliation”, Power told reporters.

May 2015 – Constitutional court rules in favour of Mr Nkurunziza, amid reports of judges being intimidated.

Until now, battle lines in Burundi’s crisis have followed the political divide.