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General Prime Niyongabo
The head of Burundi's armed forces on Friday survived an assassination attempt in the capital Bujumbura, police said, adding that at least seven people were killed in the attack.
Top security sources said the attackers were all serving soldiers in the Burundian army, and said the "meticulously prepared" assault pointed to "serious divisions" within the crisis-hit central African nation's armed forces.
Burundi has been gripped by months of unrest surrounding President Pierre Nkurunziza's controversial but successful bid for a third term in power, which also provoked a failed coup in mid-May. The target of the Friday's attack, General Prime Niyongabo, is a top Nkurunziza loyalist who played a key role in the defeat of the coup.
"There was an attack against the armed forces chief, General Prime Niyongabo, but happily he was unharmed," Burundi's deputy police chief, General Godefroid Bizimana, told AFP, adding that two attackers were killed in the clash and a third arrested.
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"Reinforcements have arrived. We are pursuing the remainder of the commandos," Bizimana added.
Another senior police source, who asked not to be named, said four bodyguards were also killed, as well as a female police officer.
"The attack was meticulously prepared. It was sudden and violent. Four bodyguards were killed instantly. He managed to survive only because the driver managed to overtake a bus transporting police officers to work, and the attackers could not keep up," said the source. AFP