Three killed in Burundi attack

BUJUMBURA, Burundi

Three civilians have been killed and a member of a Burundian opposition party kidnapped in the capital city Bujumbura, officials told Anadolu Agency on Monday.

Armed men attacked and killed two civilians on Sunday night, Nadine Gacuti, governor of Bujumbura Rural province said, adding that a third person was attacked by men armed with machetes.

She said the motives behind these assassinations would be determined by police investigations.

"Six men are already in the hands of the police… since Monday morning," Gacuti added.

A local representative of an opposition party was abducted during the same night in the same province, according to Gacuti.

Alexis Nsabimana from the National Liberation Forces was taken from his home at midnight by "armed men and in military uniform," a local administrative source told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity because of security reasons.

The attacks took place hours after the Burundian environment minister, Emmanuel Niyonkuru, was assassinated in Bujumbura.

President Pierre Nkurunziza has promised to prosecute those behind the assassination, the first of its kind since the beginning of Burundi’s crisis in April 2015.

Despite pressure from the international community, the political and security situation in Burundi does not seem to be abating. The radical opposition and some unknown groups continue to protest and the government has maintained its repression of these groups.

The violence that erupted in April 2015 has led to the death of about 1,000 people and forced over 310,000 more to flee the country and seek refuge in neighboring states, according to a report last November by the International Federation of Human Rights.

Reporting by Yvan Rukundo; Writing by Felix Nkambeh Tih