Burundian officials said on Tuesday in Bujumbura that gunmen killed five people in an attack on a market in eastern part of the country.
Abdallah Hassan, Governor of Ruyigi Province, located next to the Tanzanian border, said that the attackers entered the market in Munyinya on Monday evening and opened fire.
He said that six people were also reported to have been injured.
Hassan said eye witness’s account said the attackers targeted members of the Imbonerakure, the youth wing of President Pierre Nkurunziza’s CNDD-FDD party, which the opposition accused of killing its supporters in cooperation with police.
The governor said that the attackers were believed to include Burundian refugees who had come in from a camp in Tanzania, and that five suspects had been arrested.
“The attack was the fourth this year by suspected armed government opponents outside the capital, Bujumbura,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, Melchior Hakizimana, Provincial Vice-President of the opposition Movement for Solidarity and Development (MSD), was assassinated in Muhanga in northern Kayanza province early Tuesday.
His party said the body of Hakizimana was found in a public toilet with his throat slit.
The party said that government had accused Hakizimana of involvement in the violence against it. (dpa/NAN)