Top Burundi general is assassinated dropping daughter at school, as climate of fear spreads

A military general in Burundi who was an adviser to the country’s vice-president and two others were shot dead in the capital, a military official said Monday.

It is the latest killing in an upsurge of violence including tortures and increased disappearances that have created a climate of fear and led more than 250,000 people to flee to neighbouring countries.

The ambush of Brigadier General Athanase Kararuza came on the day that the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced the opening of a preliminary probe into atrocities in Burundi over the past year, saying violence in the African nation has reportedly left more than 430 people dead.

Gunmen opened fire on Kararuza’s car with rocket-propelled grenades when he dropped his daughter at school in the Bujumbura neighborhood of Gihosha, said military spokesman Colonel Gaspard Baratuza.

Kararuza’s wife and one of his bodyguards were also killed in the attack while his daughter, another bodyguard and the driver were wounded, Baratuza said in a statement. Baratuza urged calm and said that the perpetrators of the attack hoped to divide the army.

Burundi has been wracked by violence since April 2015 when President Pierre Nkurunziza declared his bid for a third term, which he eventually won in July, despite protests that it violates the constitution.