Army claims capture of rebel base, killing hundreds

Government troops have killed 515 rebels and captured their stronghold at Tenga, a wooded area some 20 km northeast of the capital Bujumbura, after a month-long battle which ended on Monday, the army spokesman, Colonel Augustin Nzapampema, told IRIN.

"There is no more fighting but operations are continuing to consolidate in the sector," he said on Wednesday. The government, Nzapampema said, had lost 26 soldiers killed.

However, the spokesman for the rebel Front national de liberation (FNL), Anicet Ntawuhiganyo, told the Associated Press agency (AP) that the government claim was "pure propaganda".

"Since the beginning of the fighting, we have lost 18 men and suffered 24 wounded," he said.

An official at the defence ministry told IRIN that there were no civilians in the area of operations - where the rebels fought major battles with the army between October and December 2000, according to local news reports.

Burundian Hutu rebels (backed by Rwandan Interharmwe Hutu militiamen and the routed former Rwandan army, the ex-FAR, collectively known as the Armee pour la liberation du Rwanda (ALIR) - have been fighting the government since 1993.

The rebels have recently stepped up their attacks despite the inauguration on 1 November of a transitional power-sharing government of Hutus and Tutsis.