As African news reported on Monday, the police had mentioned on Sunday evening on Twitter a death toll of eight during an "armed robbery on four vehicles" in Muramvya, a town located about fifty kilometers northeast of the economic capital Bujumbura.
But several sources interviewed Monday by AFP put the death toll at 12.
"Ten people were killed on the spot and two others, including a little girl, succumbed to their injuries," said an administrative source on condition of anonymity.
"There are eleven bodies in the Muramvya morgue and a twelfth body, a woman who died while being transferred to a hospital in Bujumbura, is in a morgue there," a medical source also said.
A dozen people were also injured, according to this medical source and witnesses.
"We are saddened to see Burundi lose its children once again because of bandits. (...) All criminals must be put out of action," reacted President Evariste Ndayishimiye in a tweet on Monday.
A Burundian army officer, Colonel Onesphore Nizigiyimana, and one of his daughters are among the victims, according to the administrative source and relatives. He was returning from a family celebration with his wife and three daughters when the attack took place.
Such ambushes are increasingly common in Burundi. At least a dozen people were killed in several such attacks in late 2020.
HJ/PR