Violence claims four in Burundi

BUJUMBURA. — A Burundi official said yesterday that four members of the country’s ruling party were killed in an attack in continuing violence associated with the extended tenure of President Pierre Nkurunziza.

The attack was on supporters of the ruling party who had gathered for an exercise to clean up the environment, said Jerome Ntakarutimana, chief of Mugamba district in Buriri province. The four men died after armed men dressed in hoods and military fatigues stormed a bar on Saturday night and opened fire, said a survivor of the attack. The attack increases the number killed in the past week to 10.

Nkurunziza’s third term has set off rounds of political violence in which more than 400 people have died. Burundi has experienced violent street protests, which boiled over into a failed coup in May and now a rebellion, since Nkurunziza announced his candidature for a third term in office in April last year. Nkurunziza won elections in July. — AP.