Former army officer and family killed in grenade attack in Burundi crisis

Dismas Bashirahishize, a pro-government former officer, and his wife and child were killed when a grenade was hurled into their house on Wednesday. (Photo: Reuters)

Bujumbura: A former army officer and his family were killed in a grenade attack on their home in Burundi, a government official said on Thursday, the latest episode in political violence that has plagued the central African country for more than a year.

Burundi's crisis has broadly followed political lines, but experts fear the violence could revive ethnic rivalries in a nation torn apart by a 12-year civil war pitting Hutu rebels against a Tutsi-led army that only ended in 2005.