Gunmen wearing military uniforms shot dead a former Burundian security chief who was a close ally of President Pierre Nkurunziza on Sunday, the presidency and witnesses said, heightening tensions after a disputed presidential poll.
General Adolphe Nshimirimana was in charge of the president’s personal security at the time of his death, was killed in a car alongside three of his bodyguards in the Kamenge district of the capital Bujumbura. Reuters reported.
Witnesses said the four attackers wore military fatigues and sprayed the car with bullets, then drove off shortly after 0600 GMT.
One witness told Reuters that two of the attackers had machine guns and the other two rocket launchers. They were seen driving in military lorry and returned back in the same car.
Pictures circulated via social media showed a black bullet-riddled SUV with its front tires flattened and side windows shot out.
Th presidential adviser, Willy Nyamitwe told Reuters that Nshimirimana had been killed by a bullet.
Burundi has been in chaos since late April when Nkurunziza announced he would seek a third term in office, a move opponents said violated the constitution and a peace deal that ended an ethnically-charged civil war in 2005.
Months of protests and a coup attempt were quelled, but the capital and some areas in the countryside have been rocked by sporadic violence and killings.
Some of the army generals behind the attempted coup have vowed to lead a rebellion to oust Nkurunziza, who won the July 21 presidential poll after the opposition boycotted the elections.
