Bandits arrested after attacks near Burundi military camp

Five bandits were arrested on Tuesday after attacking households and patrolling soldiers near a military barrack in Muyinga town, said the Burundian army spokesman.

Burundian Army Spokesman Gaspard Baratuza told a press conference that armed bandits shot in the direction of soldiers in a night patrol at about 2:30 a.m. near Mukoni military camp.

"Their aim was probably to attack the soldiers' intervention while other bandits were robbing households located near the military camp," Baratuza said.

According to him, security forces and citizens were alerted and encircled all exits of Muyinga town and later made the arrests along with the seizure of four guns and two grenades.

Witnesses however told Xinhua that it was an attack by unidentified gunmen against the military camp.

They said that gunshots and grenade explosions rocked Muyinga town for about two hours, dismissing the idea of ordinary bandits.

On Dec. 11, 2015, gunmen simultaneously attacked three military barracks in the Burundian capital Bujumbura and another at Mujejuru in Bujumbura Rural province.

Baratuza said the clashes had resulted in 87 deaths, including 79 gunmen, four soldiers and four policemen.

Burundi plunged into a crisis since 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.

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