Police: 2 killed in fight with Burundi security forces

BUJUMBURA, Burundi – Police in Burundi said an army captain and a police brigadier who defected from the security forces have been killed in a gunfight with security forces in the capital.

Police spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye said Capt. Idi Omar Bahenda and Brig. Jean Claude Niyongabo were killed in in the Kiyenzi zone of Bujumbura on Wednesday. Bahenda had been wanted for recruiting rebels opposed to President Pierre Nkurunziza, Nkurikiye said. The president's decision to seek re-election last year has left the country on the brink of civil war.

Nkurikiye said the men, along with another renegade policeman who is now in custody, were traveling in a car in which police found explosives, a rocket-propelled grenade and a rifle.