At least three civilians and six soldiers were killed in Burundi this week when rebels attacked a bar near the capital, witnesses said on Wednesday.
On Tuesday afternoon, Hutu rebels of the National Liberation Forces (FNL) attacked a bar in Sororezo, three kilometres northeast of Bujumbura, the witnesses said. Seven civilians were seriously wounded in the attack, witnesses said. ”There were six soliders on a bench drinking beer. The FNL burst in and started shooting and throwing grenades,” one of the witnesses to the Sororezo attack said.
The attack came as FNL leaders were in Tanzania’s commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, where ceasefire talks with the Bujumbura government were supposed to have started this week.
The soldiers were killed immediately and their weapons and uniforms were taken. The civilians were killed by bullets or grenade fragments, the witnesses said.
”I don’t know how I survived. I remember hearing a grenade right behind me as I was running,” said Pierre, who was in the bar at the time of the attack.
Half an hour later, FNL rebels looted several houses in a southern district of Bujumbura. At around 9:00 pm, several gunshots were heard in Ruziba, also in the south of the capital, where FNL rebels attacked a military position. ”We don’t yet know the number of casualties because everyone in Ruziba fled when the attack started,” said one resident.
Earlier this month, regional heads of states warned warring parties in Burundi — where a civil war has claimed more than 250 000 lives since 1993 — would face ”appropriate measures” if they failed to reach a ceasefire accord by early November.
Although the FNL has agreed to go to Dar es Salaam, it has insisted it was not going to negotiate with the government but only to explain its position to a South African-led mediation team. – Sapa-AFP