Army clears road of fighters

Traffic is flowing again along the road running north from the capital, Bujumbura, to Bugarama after army troops pushed back anti-government Hutu forces that were threatening to sever the highway at a point some 15 to 20 km northeast of the capital, army spokesman Colonel Augustine Nzabampema told IRIN on Tuesday. He said the government troops ejected the attackers, whom he declined to identify, on Sunday from most parts of Mageyo toward the valley of the Muzazi River. Reuters reported at least seven soldiers and three civilians dead in the four days of fighting. The army has not released any figures. "I cannot discuss casualties," Nzabampema told IRIN. Traffic had been closed since Thursday when the army took on fighters of the National Liberation Forces (NLF) a Burundi news agency, Net press, reported. It said hundreds of civilians had fled. A senior NLF commander told Reuters that it had attained its objective in the attack and would continue the war. The agency did not state the objective. The NLF has been fighting the Tutsi-dominated government and army since 1993 in a war in which about 200,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed, Reuters reported.