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Senior adviser to Burundi President escapes gunmen's ambush

Xinhua, November 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Burundian president's senior communication adviser Willy Nyamitwe Monday night escaped death following a gunmen's ambush near his home at Kajaga, 7 km west of the Burundian capital Bujumbura, the Burundian police spokesman said Tuesday.

"The attack happened around 22:00 (20:00 GMT) at Kajaga as Willy Nyamitwe was preparing to enter the gate of his house. Gunmen armed with guns of the Kalashnikov type and grenades opened fire when a guard opened the gate. They opened fire against Nyamitwe's car, killing one of Nyamitwe's guards and injuring another guard and Nyamitwe himself," said Burundian Police Spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye.

According to Nkurikiye, Nyamitwe was slightly injured on one of his arms and added that Nyamitwe's car was damaged by a grenade explosion.

"Two unexploded grenades were discovered today (Tuesday) morning near the place of the ambush. The guard who was inside the house did a great job as he pushed the gunmen back," said Nkurikiye.

He added that an investigation has already started to identify the killers.

"A soldier has been arrested in connection with the ambush. Investigations reveal that Rwandans are behind this crime," said Nkurikiye.

He said that Monday night's attack against Nyamitwe is the third assassination attempt in recent months.

"A soldier of a caporal rank called Jean Claude Nduwimana was earlier arrested in connection with attempting to kill Nyamitwe. He had two pistols and he is the one who revealed that Rwandans and Burundians exiled in the Rwandan capital Kigali are planning to kill Nyamitwe," said Nkurikiye.

He added that Colonel Dieudonne Dushimagize, a senior officer in the Burundian army and in prison for about two weeks, is also accused to be part of that network of "killers".

Relations between Burundi and Rwanda are bad since April 2015 when Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run his controversial third term in violation of the national constitution and the 2000 Arusha Agreement that ended a decade-long civil war.

Rwanda is accused of hosting Burundian citizens who staged a failed coup plot on May 13, 2015 and of providing military training to people who are destabilizing Burundi.

But Rwanda has denied all those allegations.

More than 500 people in Burundi have been killed and some 300,000 people fled to neighboring countries, mostly Tanzania, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) since the outbreak of the crisis. Endit