Burundian police arrested eight Pakistani preachers in a mosque in the central province of Gitega overnight, police and local officials said Monday. "A group of eight people calling themselves Pakistani Muslim preachers arrived two days ago and started holding unauthorised meetings, day and night, in the Bihororo mosque," local official Alexis Manirakiza told AFP.
"Residents became suspicious at the presence of these foreigners in a remote area at a time when there is a terror threat from Somali Islamists and they informed the police," he said. The eight were arrested, together with two Burundians who were with them. A police officer who asked not to be named said the eight were travelling on Pakistani passports. "We're investigating to find out exactly who they are and what they were doing in this part of the world without informing the security services or the administrative authorities," the officer said.
The arrests come less than a week after the US embassy in Burundi warned its citizens in the central African country that terror organisations, including Somalia's al Qaeda-inspired Shebab, could carry out attacks in February. Security measures have been stepped up since last week, with soldiers and police now patrolling the streets of the capital. Burundi contributes almost half of the more than 8,000 African Union troops deployed in Mogadishu to prop up a weak pro-Western transitional federal government which the Shebab have been trying to topple for two years.
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