Rebels in Burundi killed four soldiers and wounded six others in a "major attack" on Bujumbura overnight, the military said Friday, but the rebel movement claimed fighting only in "self-defence".
Deputy army spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Justace Ciza blamed the National Liberation Forces (FNL) for "a major attack on the capital, Bujumbura, during the night", adding that an officer was among those killed.
"The FNL launched dozens of mortar shells against the capital for more than three hours and simultaneously attacked military positions" on the northern, southern and eastern outskirts of the capital, Ciza said.
Communications Minister Hafsa Mossi later told a news conference that in addition to the military casualties, "there were 10 dead and six weapons seized on the rebel side."
FNL spokesman Pasteur Habimana, speaking by telephone from Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania, accused the government of responsibility for the clashes and claimed that "it is in the process of carrying out a genocide of members of our movement."
Three years after a civil war that claimed 300,000 lives in the small central African country, the FNL signed a second peace deal with newly elected authorities in September 2006, but it has yet to be implemented.
"The army deployed around FNL positions to attack us yesterday (Thursday) morning, because the government wants to hear no talk of negotiations," Habimana said, adding that rebels fought back in "legitimate self-defence".
One local radio station, RPA, reported that during the night the FNL attacked the main town in Kayanza province, 90 kilometres (55 miles) north of the capital, wounding three soldiers, but the army did not confirm this.
A foreign diplomat, who asked not to be named, expressed surprise at the scale of the attack blamed on the FNL, "when the government has said it is moribund."
"If this is true, they (the rebels) have just shown that have retain a large capacity to cause trouble," he said.
Mossi, who is also government spokesman, said authorities were "indignant at the cynicism of the FNL, which has never shown any desire to implement the peace accord."
She added that "for the government, the accord still holds good, but the government will defend the people and pursue the FNL wherever they are."
The army on Friday began a sweep around the capital to track down the rebels, according to spokesman Ciza, who said that the military was "in contact" with them in about 10 separate places.
Bujumbura residents told AFP they had not slept because of the heavy fighting.
Burundi is still emerging, with difficulty, from the civil war that began in 1993, mainly pitting rebels from the Hutu majority population against the Tutsi minority, which then dominated the army.
A power-sharing government was formed in 2001, while conflict was still taking place, and South Africa mediated among the different sides, until almost all the rebel groups agreed to a ceasefire.
In 2005, a series of elections was won by the former Hutu rebels of the National Council for the Defence of Democracy - Forces for the Defence of Democracy (CNDD-FDD).
Their leader, Pierre Nkurunziza, became president.
The FNL was among the most reluctant of rebel groups to sign up to a peace deal, but did so twice. Last February, South Africa launched a new effort to get the peace process back on the rails.
