Grenade wounds 26 in Burundi capital

Twenty-six people were injured, nine of them seriously, when a grenade exploded on Thursday in the Burundi capital of Bujumbura, local police said.

The grenade was thrown onto a crowded street in the city's Buyenzi district by a man on a motobike, witnesses and a journalist said.

"Twenty-six injured, including two children and one woman, nine seriously," police spokesperson Pierre Nkurikiye said in a tweet.

Burundi has been in crisis since April when President Pierre Nkurunziza ran for and won a controversial third term, sparking street protests, a failed coup, regular killings and a nascent rebellion.


More than 400 people have died in the violence and at least 230 000 have fled the country.

Four people, including a child, were killed in grenade attacks on civilians at the weekend, including a young boy who was selling eggs. Three days earlier, one person was killed and five others injured in three grenade attacks in the city centre.

Read more on:    burundi  |  east africa