BUJUMBURA: A top Burundian general and right-hand man to President Pierre Nkurunziza was killed in a rocket attack on his car on Sunday, prompting fears of further instability in the crisis-hit country.

Adolphe Nshimirimana was widely seen as the central African nation’s de facto internal security chief and even considered the regime’s number-two.

Police and witnesses said General Nshimirimana’s pick-up was hit by two rockets and sprayed with automatic gunfire in the capital Bujumbura on Sunday morning. He was later confirmed dead, along with his driver. The presidency’s communications chief Willy Nyamitwe confirmed that the general, a former army chief of staff and intelligence chief, had been killed.

“I have lost a brother, a companion in the struggle. The sad reality is that General Adolphe Nshimirimana is no longer with this world,” he said in a message posted on Twitter.

The assassination comes just over a week after Nkurunziza was declared the outright winner of a controversial presidential election, securing a third consecutive term despite opposition protests and international condemnation.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2015

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