A top army commander in Burundi said Sunday that about 30 fighters from the central African country's sole remaining active rebel group had been killed in clashes the previous day near the capital.
"Yesterday (Saturday) about 30 FNL (National Liberation Forces) were killed and 18 rifles taken in fighting in Nyabibondo zone," General Germain Niyoyankana, head of the army staff, told AFP.
The area is about 20 kilometres (12 miles) east of Bujumbura.
The general went on to "categorically" deny an earlier report that 15 soldiers and eight allied fighters from a former rebel group had been killed by the FNL in Nyabibondo on Friday.