Bodies dumped on streets as Burundi gun battles continue

Nairobi – Battles in Burundi have killed at least five people, with bodies found dumped on the street and insurgents hurling grenades into bars, local officials and witnesses said on Wednesday.
The killings are the latest violence in now near daily gun battles.
Two people were killed and six wounded in a grenade blast in a bar in Mutimbuzi, about 10km east of the capital Bujumbura, on Tuesday night, senior local official Damien Barindambi said.
Another grenade attack, in Mugongo Manga, about 30km east of the capital, wounded three people shortly after, officials there said.
Meanwhile in Bujumbura, the bodies of three youths were found early on Wednesday on the streets of the city’s Mutakura district, witnesses said, adding that with no blood seen, the corpses were likely dumped overnight.
Burundi’s government blames a string of attacks on “armed criminals”, but the UN has warned that Burundi risks sliding back into civil war after a dramatic rise in violence.
President Pierre Nkurunziza, an ex-rebel turned born-again Christian who believes he has divine backing to rule, won a third term in power in July, despite concerns over the legality of him serving a third consecutive mandate.
UN observers said the polls were neither credible nor free. Since the elections, clashes between gunmen and the security forces have become a near daily event.