Serial violence in Gasorwe : one family wiped out, another hit by flames

SOS Médias Burundi

Muyinga, September 11, 2025 – A night of horror rocked the former district of Gasorwe, now part of Muyinga, in Buhumuza province, eastern Burundi. Three members of the same family died in a grenade attack, while another family saw their home burned to the ground. Authorities are calling for calm and promising a thorough investigation.

On the night of Wednesday, September 10 to Thursday, September 11, around 11:00 PM, a grenade was thrown at the home of Gédéon Ngaruko, in Karira village, Gahogo neighborhood. The explosion instantly killed the head of the family, his wife, and their grandson.

A neighbor, still in shock, testified :

“We heard a loud explosion. When we arrived, the house was gutted and bodies were lying on the ground. It was unbearable.”

The motives for this attack remain uncertain. Some residents suggest witchcraft was the target of the victim, while others believe it was an act of banditry.

“Nothing can justify such a massacre. Even if tensions existed, that’s no reason to destroy a family,” confided another resident.

The district administrator and the police commissioner confirmed that the judicial police had opened an investigation.

A house burned down in Kaguhu

The same night, in Kaguhu village, in the Bwasare zone, another tragedy struck. Jean Claude Bangayijunja’s house was set on fire while its owner was in a cabaret, sharing a drink with friends.

“We saw flames rising rapidly. Everyone tried to extinguish the fire, but it was impossible,” said a resident.

When the alarm reached him, it was already too late : the house and all its belongings had been destroyed. According to the police, the perpetrators of the fire had already been identified.

Local sources claim that the victim was living separately from his wife due to a marital conflict. The latter is suspected of having hired accomplices.

Anger and a sense of abandonment

Faced with this double tragedy, the administrator of Muyinga issued an urgent appeal to the population :

“The perpetrators of these crimes, whether the murder of the Ngaruko family or the arson attack in Kaguhu, will be punished according to the law.”

But the residents of Gasorwe are expressing their outrage. They denounce the inaction of security forces and the Imbonerakure, members of the CNDD-FDD youth league, who patrol various villages across the small east African nation at night.

“They’re everywhere when it comes to monitoring the population, but never there when we need them,” laments a local youth.

Fear and anger now dominate : “We no longer know who the next victim will be. We ask the government to protect us, otherwise the populations risk taking justice into their own hands,” warns another resident.

The population now expects swift and credible investigations, in the hope that justice will be done and that the climate of insecurity will ease.