Grenade attacks target car transport agency, bar in Burundi's capital

The compound hosting a bar and the Volcano car transport agency at Kamenge in the Burundian capital Bujumbura were Thursday night the target of grenade explosions and heavy gunshots, police sources told Xinhua on Friday.

"Unidentified people detonated grenades and opened fire inside the compound hosting a bar and the Volcano car transport agency. It was around 23:00 (21:00 GMT) when the attack happened. During the attack, several belongings and equipment were damaged," said Burundian Police Deputy-Spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye.

Police agents said at least five grenades were detonated during the attack.

The bar owner Marie Goreth Ndayishimiye told Xinhua that most equipment as well as all the drinks that were in the bar were burned due to the fire caused by grenade explosions.

"There were only two or three bar agents at the time of the attack because people had gone home as it was late. One of the bar agents was injured on his leg while running away during the explosions,"Ndayishimiye said.

"The office of Volcano car transport agency was also damaged as documents and other belongings of the agency were scattered on the office floor," she said.

The owner of Volcano car transport agency is said to be a Rwandan national.

The attack against Volcano's office happened after the Burundian government's decision to expel Desire Nyaruhirira, senior adviser at the Rwandan embassy in Burundi, for "failing to adequately" carry out his duties.

In a related security story, a corpse of a killed man was discovered Friday morning in Ngagara neighborhood on Buconyori Boulevard in the capital Bujumbura.

The east African nation has been facing unrest triggered by President Pierre Nkurunziza's successful bid to win a third term in office, a move opponents said was against the law and the terms of a peace deal that ended a 13-year civil war in 2006.

In August, local rights groups reported that at least 100 persons were killed in waves of violence since the beginning of protests against Nkurunziza's third term bid in April.

Nkurunziza won a controversial election on July 21 that was boycotted by the opposition.

Source: XINHUA