Burundi Arrests Brother of Suspected France Islamist Attacker
Authorities in the central African nation of Burundi said Monday they had arrested the brother of a man who was killed in France after a suspected Islamist-motivated attack.
A spokesman for Burundi's National Intelligence Service said Brice Nzohabonayo was detained in the capital Bujumbura shortly after his brother Bertrand Nzohabonayo attacked a police station in the central French town of Joue-les-Tours.
Bertrand Nzohabonayo was shot dead Saturday after entering the police station armed with a knife, seriously wounding two officers -- slashing one in the face -- and hurting another.
"We arrested Brice Nzohabonayo on Saturday while he was staying with one of his uncles in Bujumbura. He had come from France and was spending several days here," intelligence spokesman Télesphore Bigirimana told AFP.
"He has been detained in our premises and he is being questioned," the official added, saying Burundi's intelligence service was in contact with its French counterparts.
He added that Burundi had told France last year that the two brothers -- who regularly visited Burundi -- should be considered suspect because of their extremist religious views.
In Saturday's incident in France, the assailant -- a French national born in Burundi in 1994-- cried "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest") during the attack
Police sources in Burundi said the brother gave no resistance as he was arrested.
Investigators said they were seeking to establish if any attacks were planned in Christian-majority Burundi -- which is a contributor to the African Union force battling Al-Qaida-affiliated Shebab Islamists in Somalia.
The incident in France comes as governments around the world brace for so-called "lone wolf" attacks by individuals returning from waging jihad abroad, or who are simply following Islamic State calls for violence in countries involved in a coalition fighting the radical group.
Source: Agence France Presse
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