Five people killed and over 50 injured in grenade attack

The injured were taken to Gahombo, Musema and Kayanza hospital for care.

Two children, a woman and two men were killed by an unidentified “terrorist” in a grenade attack that also injured more than 50 people in the north-western province of Kayanza on Sunday around 6:30 p.m., the police report
“Yesterday around 6h30 p.m. in Gatara Commune, Kayanza province, an unidentified terrorist launched a grenade that killed four people on the spot and wounded 54 others”, said Pierre Nkurikiye, Spokesman for the Burundi Police this Monday.

Alternative reports say the number of injured is more than 60.

He says an 8th grader who was injured later died at the hospital raising the death toll to five. Sources say the number is “temporary”.

The grenade also damaged the car of Claude Nzambimana, Director General of coffee washing station. “Obviously, he was the target of the attack”, says Nkurikiye.

President Pierre Nkurunziza conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families promising that the culprits will be punished for their act.

“We extend our condolences to families who lost theirs in the terrorist attack in Gatara in Bubanza. Those who committed the act will surely pay for it”, said President Nkurunziza on his twitter account.

The police say they are “actively hunting down the terrorist” to bring him to justice.

Areas outside Bujumbura had mostly been till now spared from grenade attacks that have rocked some areas of the capital from late April.

The Burundian capital Bujumbura has often been reported as a hotbed of such attacks which have claimed lives of civilians

Grenade attacks have mainly been reported in some areas of Bujumbura the capital since late April
The attacks that are often targeted at social gatherings have killed and injured a number of people.

Contrary to similar attacks that occurred amid and in the aftermath of the violence of 2015 that were claimed by opponents to President Nkurunziza, the current incidents are not claimed by any group.

Waves of criminal incidents including criminal homicide, burglary, theft and ambushes have increasingly been reported by the police in different parts of the country.

The police attribute them to mere criminality, while critics of the government use these incidents as further proofs for instability in the country.