{Gunmen dressed in military fatigues burst into a bar and shot dead three ruling party activists before torching the local party office, police and local officials said Tuesday.}<\/p>\n
“They tied them up on the ground, then killed them with automatic weapons,” said a local official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Police confirmed the attack, which took place late Sunday in the eastern Gisuru region.<\/p>\n
Police confirmed the attack, which took place late Sunday in the eastern Gisuru region, some 250 kilometres (155 miles) east of the capital Bujumbura.<\/p>\n
The five gunmen — who police spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye called “bandits” — then left without stealing anything to set fire to a nearby office of the ruling CNDD-FDD party.<\/p>\n
The attack is the latest violence in Burundi, following heavy clashes between the army and rebels last week in which over 100 insurgents were reportedly killed.<\/p>\n
The army has said the rebels had planned a major offensive to destabilise the country ahead of elections due in May and June.<\/p>\n
Burundi, a small nation in Africa’s Great Lakes region, emerged in 2006 from a brutal 13-year civil war and its political climate remains fractious ahead of the polls.<\/p>\n
President Pierre Nkurunziza, in power since 2005, is expected to run for a third term in office despite opponents’ claims that this would violate Burundi’s constitution.<\/p>\n
Onesime Nduwimana, spokesman of Nkurunziza’s CNDD-FDD party, condemned the “political” attack on the bar.<\/p>\n
“It is very serious, because it is a crime that is certainly political in nature,” Nduwimana told AFP.<\/p>\n
“We believe those who committed this cowardly crime belong to the extremist fringe of the Burundian opposition, with the aim of sabotaging the 2015 elections.”<\/p>\n
While the identity of the gunmen is not known, Nduwimana said he feared they wanted to destabilise the country by “sowing hatred” and provoking revenge attacks by the Imbonerakure, a controversial youth wing of the CNDD-FDD.<\/p>\n
“We ask that those responsible for these crimes are prosecuted wherever they are,” Nduwimana said.<\/p>\n
AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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