Twenty people, 19 of them civilians, were killed in an attack in western Burundithe government stated on Saturday, while the RED-Tabara rebel group that claimed responsibility for the operation claimed that it killed ten members of the security forces of this country of Africa Oriental.
The confrontation occurred on Friday night in the town of Vugizoabout 20 km from Bujumburaeconomic capital and border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the combatants of that insurgent organization have their rear bases.
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The RED-Tabara (Resistance for a Rule of Law in Burundi) are the main armed opposition group to the regime led by Evariste Ndayishimiye.
The government assured in a statement that “cowardly attack“targeted civilians and left 20 dead, “among them 12 children, five of whom were under 5 years old; three women, two of them pregnant; already five men, including a police officer who was trying to help civilians”.
The incursion also left nine injured, according to the official statement, which lambasts a “terrorist, abominable and barbaric action.”
The RED-Tabara For their part, they indicated on social network “fighters (…) based on Burundi They attacked the border post Vugizo”, eliminating “nine soldiers and one police officer.”
Military and security sources told AFP that the attack was initially directed against “a military position.”
But “there were civilians who found themselves between two fires and died, before the combatants retreated into the DRC”said a Burundian official who requested anonymity and confirmed a total balance of 20 dead.
The group RED-Tabaracreated in 2011, has between 500 and 800 combatants, and since 2015, most of the attacks and ambushes in Burundi have been attributed to him.
Evariste Ndayishimiyewho assumed power after the death of the president Pierre Nkurunziza In June 2020, he said on several occasions that he was willing to “dialogue” with the insurgent groups.
But RED-Tabara indicated in a statement of November 13 that it ruled out any negotiation without the organization of “democratic, free, inclusive and transparent elections.”
