Two Killed in Burundi 'Bandit' Attack

Gunmen in Burundi killed a policeman and a civilian in a nighttime raid, a governor said Wednesday, the latest in a string of attacks in the troubled country.

Four others were wounded in the shooting at the office of the ruling party soon after nightfall on Tuesday in the Ndava district in the central Mwaro region.

Burundi plunged into crisis in April 2015 when President Pierre Nkurunziza ran for and won a controversial third term, sparking street protests, a failed coup, regular killings and a nascent rebellion.

Hundreds have been killed and a quarter of a million people have fled the country.

Local governor Jean-Marie Nyakarerwa said the four gunmen were "unidentified armed bandits", who had also stolen cash from a beer storage warehouse.

Burundi's government routinely dismisses talk of rebellion, instead blaming attacks on "armed criminals" or insurgents.

Opposition forces said in December they had launched a formal rebellion under the banner of the Republican Forces of Burundi (Forebu).

The killings came as peace talks --- held without the opposition -- closed unsuccessfully in the Tanzanian town of Arusha, with the next round scheduled to start in late June.