Four people were killed and 17 wounded in hand grenade attacks on two bars in a suburb of Burundi’s capital Bujumbura, officials said yesterday.

A local official said three people died instantly, while the fourth died in hospital after the attack by unknown gunmen on Sunday night. “One of the attackers fired a bullet before launching the grenade. One customer, who was drinking his beer, died on the spot,” said the manager of one of the pubs.

Burundi’s government estimates that there are about 300,000 illegal guns in the hands of civilians and armed groups, left over from more than a decade of ethnic civil war.

“This attack was led by disaffected people living in the area. The government should carry out its policy of forcibly disarming civilians who hold weapons illegally,” local government official Vincent Bacanamwo told Reuters.