Four killed in Burundi gun attack

At least four people were killed on Friday when gunmen
ambushed the Burundian army’s chief of staff in a failed
assassination attempt. According to a morgue source,
three soldiers and three gunmen were killed in the early
morning attack in the capital Bujumbura.

The source said that an army pick-up brought four
bodies to the morgue. However, the main target Gen.
Prime Niyongabo survived the attack. Niyongabo is the
highest-ranking official to be targeted in a series of
attacks on officials since April when President Pierre
Nkurunziza announced he was seeking a third term.

Nkurunziza’s relection bid continue to raise tension as the
opposition says it will violate the constitution and a peace
deal that ended an ethnically charged civil war in 2005.

Earlier this week, gunmen shot dead an opposition
official and in August Gen. Adolphe Nshimirimana, who
was in charge of the president’s personal security, was
killed in an ambush.

Nkurunziza was sworn in on Aug. 20 for another five-
year term after his party won a sweeping victory in a
parliamentary election that the EU and US said was
not free or fair