Topic: Burundi: 87 killed in worst violence since April coup attempt (Read 391 times)
Probably these pro-Hutu government groups are trying to exterminate the minority Tutsis, just like what they did in the neighboring Rwanda during the 1990s. At the time of independence, Belgium should have segregated these two ethnic groups. But rather than doing that, they divided the territory in to two separate territories (Rwanda and Burundi), where Hutus remained as the overwhelming majority. They should have carved out a separate sovereign nation for the Tutsis.
Bujumbura residents say victims were shot execution-style by ‘soldiers and police’ as widespread discontent continues
About 87 people have been killed in Burundi in the worst outbreak of political violence since an attempted coup in April, with residents describing victims shot execution-style, some with hands bound behind their backs.
The Burundi army said that the death toll included eight members of the security forces.
Gunfire could be heard across the capital, Bujumbura, throughout Friday, with eyewitnesses describing few residents venturing out until later on Saturday as security forces patrolled the streets.
The escalating violence comes a day after the government said an unidentified group carried out a trio of co-ordinated attacks on military targets.
An army spokesman, Colonel Gaspard Baratuza, claimed 12 attackers had been killed and 21 captured, saying they had aimed “to stock up on weapons and ammunition … The army has defeated them seriously.”
An eyewitness told AP he had counted at least 21 bodies with bullet wounds in the neighbourhood of Nyakabiga, which has been the flashpoint for anti-government protest. Some had their hands tied behind their backs, the witness said.
In Musaga, close to a military college that was one of the installations attacked by armed men early on Friday, a local official told AFP he had seen at least 14 corpses, and that “soldiers and police” had killed them late on Friday night.
A Bujumbura police spokesman, Pierre Nkurikiye, told Reuters there were no “collateral victims” in the violence overnight on Friday, and that those killed had links to the attacks on military installations.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/12/burundi-bodies-found-worst-violence-since-april-coup
About 87 people have been killed in Burundi in the worst outbreak of political violence since an attempted coup in April, with residents describing victims shot execution-style, some with hands bound behind their backs.
The Burundi army said that the death toll included eight members of the security forces.
Gunfire could be heard across the capital, Bujumbura, throughout Friday, with eyewitnesses describing few residents venturing out until later on Saturday as security forces patrolled the streets.
The escalating violence comes a day after the government said an unidentified group carried out a trio of co-ordinated attacks on military targets.
An army spokesman, Colonel Gaspard Baratuza, claimed 12 attackers had been killed and 21 captured, saying they had aimed “to stock up on weapons and ammunition … The army has defeated them seriously.”
An eyewitness told AP he had counted at least 21 bodies with bullet wounds in the neighbourhood of Nyakabiga, which has been the flashpoint for anti-government protest. Some had their hands tied behind their backs, the witness said.
In Musaga, close to a military college that was one of the installations attacked by armed men early on Friday, a local official told AFP he had seen at least 14 corpses, and that “soldiers and police” had killed them late on Friday night.
A Bujumbura police spokesman, Pierre Nkurikiye, told Reuters there were no “collateral victims” in the violence overnight on Friday, and that those killed had links to the attacks on military installations.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/12/burundi-bodies-found-worst-violence-since-april-coup
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