Burundi army takes rebel stronghold

BUJUMBURA, Burundi (CNN) -- Burundi's Tutsi-dominated army secured a rebel stronghold just five kilometers (three miles) from Bujumbura on Friday.

The move ends a two-month siege on the forested, rural area the ethnic Hutu rebels used as a base for attacks on the outskirts of the capital.

Military commanders said more than 500 rebels and 28 government soldiers were killed in the battle for Tenga, but Prime Ndikumagenge, a national radio journalist, told CNN he saw no evidence of a large number of Hutu dead when the army took him to the site.

Ndikumagenge also said he saw no prisoners.

Tenga had been the National Liberation Forces' (FNL) largest stronghold. The FNL is one of two Hutu groups to refuse to honor a cease-fire negotiated more than a year ago by former South African President Nelson Mandela.

The rebels say they were not involved in the negotiations, which were aimed at ending an eight-year civil war that has cost the African nation more than 200,000 mostly civilian lives since 1983.

The battles intensified after the November 1 inauguration of an interim power-sharing government.

Fifteen soldiers, including an army commander, were killed 10 days ago in a rebel ambush at Tenga, and the rebels attacked Buterere, a poor northern suburb of Bujumbura, just a week ago.

Six civilians were killed in that attack, on a mostly Hutu neighborhood, witnesses said.

Battles between the rebels and government forces continued in the southern part of the country along the border with Tanzania.