Rebel Attack in Burundi Results in 20 Deaths

RED-Tabara, a rebel group based in Congo, targeted civilians in the western town of Vugizo, leaving many dead including children and pregnant women.

An attack by the RED-Tabara rebel group based in the Democratic Republic of Congo has resulted in at least 20 deaths in Burundi, including 12 children and three women, two of whom were pregnant.
The attack targeted nine homes in the western town of Vugizo, near the Lake Tanganyika border with Congo.
RED-Tabara, considered a terrorist movement by Burundian authorities, claimed responsibility for the attack, denying targeting civilians and claiming to have killed nine soldiers and a police officer.
Witnesses reported that the rebels appeared to be wearing Burundian army uniforms and that civilians were left to fend for themselves after the military and police fled.
Burundi had secretly deployed hundreds of troops and militia to Congo in 2021 to fight RED-Tabara, but the impact of that secret deployment is unclear.