Dozens of people were killed in coordinated assaults on two army barracks in the Burundi capital Bujumbura early Friday, according to witnesses and a military source.

Fighting began at around 4:00 am (0600 GMT) when "heavily armed men" attacked a base at Ngagara in the north of the city and a military training college in the south, according to a senior military officer, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity. "After more than two hours of clashes, the army repulsed the southern attack, while virtually all the attackers were killed in Ngagara base," the officer said.