Driver killed in NGO vehicle ambush

A driver was killed after a vehicle belonging to the UK-based NGO Children’s Aid Direct (CAD) was ambushed and attacked on Thursday afternoon on route nationale 9 about a kilometre from Bubanza town in northwestern Burundi. According to humanitarian sources, the vehicle, carrying four CAD employees slowed down at what the occupants thought was a check point manned by one individual. When the vehicle slowed down, the man shot the driver in the head and nine other assailants appeared from the bush and fired at the tyres of the vehicle. They took hostage the three other occupants. The military, alarmed by the shots, came to the scene and there was an exchange of fire. It was at this point that the hostages managed to escape, the sources said. The three were taken to safety at a health centre operated by CAD in Bubanza.