A Burundian soldier with his gun and rocket launcher guard a deserted street in Bujumbura, Burundi.(Photo: AP)
Scores of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>people were reported killed as political violence<span style="color: Red;">*</span>surged <span style="color: Red;">*</span>in Bujumbara, the capital of the central equatorial African nation of Burundi, after the Army and police responded to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>attacks carried out Friday against military installations, according to various media reports Saturday.
The army said that 87 died Friday, including eight members of the nation's security forces, according to Associated Press. Bodes were found across the capital with<span style="color: Red;">*</span>gunshot wounds to the head and some victims had their hands bound behind their backs. Residents of one neighborhood told Reuters that young and middle-aged<span style="color: Red;">*</span>men were gathered up by police and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>taken away from their homes and killed.
"I fear I can be <span style="color: Red;">*</span>killed like my friend yesterday," Fidele Muyobera,, 22, told Associated Press. "Police came to search our house and by chance I escaped. If I had money, I wold go buy a passport and flee."
Pierre Nkunkiye, a police spokesman, told Reuters that were no "collateral" victims. "All the deaths were attackers killed in the joint sweep operation of the army and police. The enemy was neutralized."
The Army reported that there were coordinated attacks early Friday against three military installations.
U.S.State Department spokesman John Kirby, in a statement issued after those attacks, said the agency condemns<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the violence "in the strongest terms" and called on East African nations to convene "high-level political dialogue between the (Burundi) government and opposition to diffuse the situation."
Burundi, one of the poorest nations in the world, has been immersed in unrest since an attempted coup in May and protests that followed President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to seek a third term in a disputed election where he prevailed in July. Foreign observers and opponents in Burundi contend Nkurunziza's actions were unconstitutional and violated a peace accord.The treaty ended a civil war that left 300,000 dead between 1996 and 2006.
The nation of 10 million people<span style="color: Red;">*</span>has historically been the setting of violence between Hutu<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and Tutsi tribal members. At least 240 people have died since this recent spate of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Burundi unrest began earlier this year,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>according to AP. The United Nations says that 221,000<span style="color: Red;">*</span>have fled the country since April.
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