BUNJUMBURA, Burundi, April 25 (UPI) — Gunmen shot dead an army general, his wife and their child Monday morning in the East African country of Burundi.
Gen. Athanase Kararuza and his wife died instantly. They were shot dead while dropping off their daughter at school in the capital city of Bujumbura. The child died shortly later.
No group has said it was behind the attack.
According to Bujumbura Mayor Freddy Mbonimpa, six unidentified gunmen were said to be involved in the killing of the family. The general’s seriously injured child was rushed to Bujumbura military hospital, Mbonimpa added.
Shortly after the attack, the International Criminal Court announced that it was starting a preliminary investigation into the violence in Burundi.
Kararuza, who was an adviser to Vice President Gaston Sindimwo, was the seventh highest-ranking army officer to be assassinated in less than a year in the country.
Last Thursday, Emmanuel Buzubona, a colonel in the Burundian army, also was killed by gunmen in northern Bujumbura. On Sunday, Minister for Human Rights Martin Nivyabandi survived a grenade attack as he was coming out of church.
More than 400 people have been killed in the turmoil since President Pierre Nkurunziza announced plans to run for a third term last April. Nkurunziza, the former leader of a Hutu rebel group that battled a Tutsi-dominated army for many years, came to power in 2005 as part of a peace deal.
