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Two South African soldiers wounded in mortar bombardment

Two soldiers of the South African Protection Support Detachment were among the wounded when suspected Hutu rebels lobbed 60-mm mortar rounds into the northern Bujumbura suburbs of Mutanga and Gihosha on Sunday, local news organisations reported. "We presume that it was a rebel attack," Col Lawrence Smith, commander of the South African protection battalion, said. The 701 South Africans are in Burundi to protect Hutu returnee politicians who are now members of the transitional power-sharing government and other state institutions. Local news organisations reported that a mortar bomb landed within the perimeter of the home of the minister of good governance, Diolace Kiganahe. One South African soldier was slightly injured by shrapnel and another, with severe head wounds, was flown to South Africa for treatment. Both soldiers were assigned to protect Kiganahe. State-owned Radio Burundi reported that 24 assailants were killed and three Burundian soldiers wounded. AFP reported that the attack, launched from the hill overlooking the capital, was carried out by the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL), a splintered Hutu rebel group. The attack came as both factions of another divided Hutu rebel group, the Force pour la defense de la democratie and the government are trying to reach a ceasefire agreement to end the nine-year war. The FNL's more conciliatory faction, led by Alain Mugabarabona, is expected in the Tanzanian commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, for similar talks. However, the hardline FNL splinter group, led by Agathon Rwasa, says it can only talk peace with the army, which, it says, holds real power in the country. A split appeared in this group on 8 August when its 30-member Higher Revolutionary Council replaced Rwasa with Mugabarabona as the movement's president.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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