Burundi police on Wednesday raided a Bujumbura home seeking activists opposing President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for an unconstitutional third term in office.
The raid resulted in the deaths of at least five people, including two children, and one police officer. The police said they were disarming opposition supporters and fired in self defence.
Bereaved family members told Bloom Gist's Marie Ineza that police entered their family compound "and started firing".
An eye witness, who wish to stay anonymous said: "The police fired from outside the gate, one of them jumped over the gate and opened it for the others to get in. Then they started firing at everyone."
"A man and his two children ran inside and they closed the door. Grenades were thrown inside and they exploded. Everyone was killed."
Andre Ndayambaje, the Burundi police chief, during a press conference on Thursday said that police were "disarming civilians who have weapons that have been smuggled into the country".
"So far we have collected eight Kalashnikov, 300 bullets and 15 grenades meant for an attack," Ndayambaje said.
Marie said UN human rights officials said they would investigate the incident.
