Five killed in gun attack in Burundi’s capital

Demonstrators block the road in the rural village of Rwenza near Bujumbura, Burundi, Tuesday May 5, 2015. The Constitutional court validated President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to seek a third term, amid street protests.(AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Tit-for-tat attacks between Nkurunziza’s security forces and his opponents have escalated since April 2015. Thursday night’s attack struck a bar in Bujumbura’s Musaga neighbourhood, where protests were held against the president last year, said deputy police spokesman Moise Nkurunziza.

Among the dead were a three-year old child and an unarmed soldier who was in civilian clothes, he said. “It was around 10.10 pm last night when four armed men in civilian clothes attacked a small pub... killing five people,” he said. “As they were fleeing, the attackers threw a grenade at a small army base just nearby which didn’t do any damage.”