US State Department tells Americans to leave Burundi as soon as it is feasible after more than 80 people were killed in clashes

The U.S. Department of State has warned its citizens against all travel to Burundi.

It has recommended that U.S. citizens currently in Burundi depart as soon as it is feasible to do so.

This follows ongoing clashes in Burundi in which more than 80 people have so far been killed since Friday.

“As a result of continuing violence, the Department of State ordered the departure of dependents of U.S. government personnel and non-emergency U.S. government personnel from Burundi on December 13,” read part of a statement on the department’s website.

An unidentified body of a man lies in the street. Almost 90 people have died from violent shootings in the Burundi capital on Friday. (PHOTO: COURTESY)

The statement added, the U.S. Embassy is able to offer only very limited emergency services to U.S. citizens in Burundi.

“This Travel Warning supersedes the Travel Warning issued on November 3, 2015.”

Political violence has persisted throughout Burundi in the aftermath of the country's contested elections, an attempted coup d'etat and the debate over the President standing for a third term, added the statement.  Armed groups operate in Burundi and gunfire and grenade attacks occur with frequency, but are usually not directed at foreigners.

Kenyans launched a hashtag #stopBurundigenocide to force regional bodies like the EAC and African Union to take action to stop the killings.

There are fears the country could slide back into ethnic conflict.

Reports said blasts and gunfire echoed around Bujumbura for most of Friday and residents said officials spent the day collecting bullet-riddled bodies from city streets.

There was no fighting overnight and the capital's streets were calm on Saturday.

The Army said gunmen had attacked three military sites in Bujumbura, kindling a day of clashes across the city.

He said 79 attackers were killed and 45 others captured. Four police officers and four soldiers also died.

Unrest in Burundi, which started in April when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced plans for a third term in office, has unnerved a region still volatile two decades after the genocide in neighbouring Rwanda.

The police did not identify the gunmen. One of the generals behind the failed coup attempt said afterwards that his rebel group still aimed to topple the president.

Residents said some of Friday's dead were killed after being rounded up by the police in house-to-house searches, an allegation the police denied. More than 200,000 have since fled the country.

Kenya Airways, which cancelled flights to Burundi on Friday, said it would resume flying to Bujumbura on Sunday. Rwanda Air too suspended flights to Burundi.

Burundi's 12-year civil war, which ended in 2005, pitted rebel groups of the Hutu majority, including one led by Nkurunziza, against what was then an army led by the Tutsi minority.