Grenade Kills 6 in Marketplace

A grenade exploded in a busy central market in Bujumbura, the capital, killing at least six people, shortly after the military said it had slain 15 Hutu rebels. Twelve people were seriously injured. It was not immediately known who was responsible. Military spokesman Col. Longin Minani said the army killed the rebels when they attacked military positions outside the capital. The grenade attack was the first since 1997 in the capital of the Central African country. The rebels seek the ouster of President Pierre Buyoya, who overthrew a coalition government in 1996, claiming that only he could end the bloodshed and violence that began in 1993 when Tutsis assassinated Melchior Ndadaye, the country’s first democratically elected president and a Hutu.