The Sunday News
Bujumbura — Eleven Burundian police officers were wounded, one of them seriously, in a string of overnight grenade attacks in the capital of the crisis-hit central African nation, security sources said yesterday. “Several police posts as well as police vehicles were attacked with grenades on Friday evening. Eleven police officers were wounded, one of them seriously, and police responded with sustained gunfire,” said a senior police official, blaming demonstrators opposed to President Pierre Nkurunziza’s controversial bid for a third term in office.
Officials said the attacks took place in the districts of Citiboke, Nyakabiga, Musaga and Jabe, which have been at the centre of weeks of unrest sparked by Nkurunziza’s decision to seek a third consecutive term in elections slated for mid-July.
“They (the demonstrators) have changed their methods,” said the police official, condemning what he said were “terrorist attacks”. Officials said no arrests were made.
Residents in the affected areas said they were unsure who was behind the attacks, although some blamed the police and accused security forces of “terrorising the population”. — AFP
