At least four civilians were killed Friday when mortar shells fired by Hutu rebels rained down on the north of the Burundian capital, local officials told AFP.
Two people were killed and one had his legs blown off in the Mutanga area in the northeast of Bujumbura while another two were killed in neighbouring Kamenge district, the officials said.
The Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD), the main armed Hutu movement, claimed responsibility for the attack. The Burundian army responded with mortars.
”We promised to began pursuit operations against the army and we have now begun with this mortar attack,”said FDD representative Daniel Gelase Ndabirabe.
The FDD last week said the army had attacked them on two fronts, in the central Muramvya province and in Kayanza province in the north, and that it would carry out reprisals.
An army representative said on Friday the attacks on Bujumbura were ongoing but he could not confirm casualties or damage caused.
Peace talks between President Pierre Buyoya’s government and rebels were due to have resumed in Tanzania on November 19, but were delayed after the FDD said they had not received an invitation.
The war pitting Hutu rebels against the Tutsi-dominated army is estimated to have left 250 000 people dead since it erupted in 1993.
Fresh fighting was reported Thursday at Bukatuna, 24 kilometres north of Bujumbura.
A local government official said almost 40 000 civilians, mostly women and children, had fled the area since the battles began on Saturday, and were in dire need of food and shelter. – Sapa-AFP