20 people, including children and pregnant women, were killed by a rebel group, government announces

Twenty people, including 19 civilians, were killed in Burundi in an attack claimed by the rebel group RED-Tabara, the government announced on Saturday December 23. The assault was carried out Friday evening in the town of Vugizo, located about twenty kilometers from the economic capital Bujumbura and bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It is in the DRC that the rear base of RED-Tabara (Resistance for the Rule of Law in Burundi) is located, the main armed group fighting the regime led since 2020 by Evariste Ndayishimiye. In a press release, the government states that this “cowardly attack” deliberately targeted civilians, killing “12 children, including five under the age of five, three women, two of whom are pregnant, and five men, including one police officer who intervened to rescue civilians”.

A targeted military position?

Nine other people were injured and hospitalized, adds the government. The latter condemns a “terrorist, despicable and barbaric act”.

The RED-Tabara group affirmed that its “fighters (…) based in Burundi attacked the Vugizo border post” and “9 soldiers and 1 police officer were killed”in a message on X. Two military and security sources told AFP that the attack had targeted a “military position”.