Twelve insurgents who launched attacks on military bases in Burundi’s capital on Friday were killed and 20 others were arrested, an army spokesman said.
Speaking to state radio, army spokesman Gaspard Baratuza said five soldiers were also wounded when assailants tried to storm military bases to seize weapons to free people held in prison.
Soldiers, speaking on condition of anonymity, had earlier told Reuters that at least five soldiers were killed in the attacks in addition to several attackers.
It was the latest flare-up in a nation Western powers fear may be sliding back into ethnic conflict.Flights from
Nairobi and Kigali were suspended.
The sound of firing echoed across the capital, Bujumbura, through Friday after heavy gunfire and blasts erupted in the early hours. Residents said streets were empty and police were out in force at a time when people normally head to work.
The outbreak of violence, the worst since a failed coup in May, is unnerving for a region that remains volatile two decades after the genocide in next-door Rwanda.
Till now, battle lines in Burundi’s crisis have followed the political divide. But Western powers and regional nations fear old ethnic rifts could reopen.
Burundi’s 12-year civil war, which ended in 2005, had pitted rebel groups of the Hutu majority, including one led by current President Pierre Nkurunziza, against what was then an army led by the Tutsi minority. Rwanda has the same ethnic mix.
Night-time gunfire and sporadic blasts have become common in Bujumbura during a crisis set off in April by Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term, which opponents – often known as ‘Sindumuja’ – said violated a deal that ended the civil war. Nkurunziza won a disputed election in July.
But residents said Friday’s flare-up was much more intense.
“Sindumuja tried to attack military camps but they failed,” presidential media adviser Willy Nyamitwe wrote on Twitter, describing the raids as “a diversion” to try to free prisoners.
“Situation is returning to normal as firearms are seized, many Sindumuja assailants killed or arrested,” he wrote.
Army spokesman Gaspard Baratuza told state radio 12 of the insurgents were killed and 20 were detained after trying to storm military bases to seize weapons. He said five soldiers were wounded. “The situation has now normalised,” he added.