UN human rights chief expresses alarm about recent surge in killings, arrests in Burundi

GENEVA – The U.N. human rights chief is expressing concerns about arrests, detentions and "unexplained killings" in Burundi.

Zeid Raad al-Hussein says dead bodies are found nearly every day on the streets in some neighborhoods of Bujumbura, the capital, and "in many cases, the victims appear to have been killed by a bullet fired at close range."

In a statement Monday, Zeid pointed to an intensification of police searches aimed to seize illegal weapons in Bujumbura and said reports suggested that many of those killed had been arrested beforehand by the police or the National Intelligence Agency.

His said his office has registered 90 cases of torture, 134 killings, and hundreds of cases of arbitrary arrest and detention since April, including 704 arrests this month alone.