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Burundi grenade attack kills child, injures two

Sunday, 14 February 2016 3:01 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 14 February 2016 2:59 PM ]

Local residents look at the scene of a grenade attack carried out in the Bwiza district of Bujumbura, Burundi, on November 14, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

A child has been killed and two other people have been injured in a grenade attack on a military base in Burundi's capital.

According to a government official and a witness, the incident occurred late on Saturday, targeting a military base in the Ngagara neighborhood in Bujumbura.

"The attackers were in a car and threw two grenades at a military station which injured two people including a child and his father, both coming from a hair salon," a Ngagara administrator said on Sunday.

"The child died after but his father is undergoing treatment,” he added.

A witness in the neighborhood said a soldier in the area was also wounded, but the administrator could not confirm it.

No group or individual has so far claimed responsibility for the deadly attack.

The recent development comes shortly after unidentified gunmen on Friday killed two people in a targeted killing in Mwaro province, some 60 km (37 miles) from Bujumbura.

The security situation in Burundi has been unstable since April 2015, when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced his bid to compete for a third presidential term, sparking widespread protests.

File photo of Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza (Photo on www.ibtimes.com)

The opposition stood against the move, arguing that the president's decision was in violation of the Constitution, which allows the president to run for two successive terms.

However, Nkurunziza's allies said his first term did not count as he was elected by the parliament and not by direct vote to end the civil war in the country.

Since then, over 400 people have lost their lives in violence with the situation worsening after Nkurunziza won a third term in last July presidential election.

Last month, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al Hussein expressed concern that the country risks sliding back into civil war.

Between 1993 and 2005 around 300,000 people died in Burundi as a result of civil war fought along ethnic lines.

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