Heavy gunfire rocked the leafy Kigali suburb of Nyarutarama as elite Rwanda Police forces exchanged fire with a suspected terrorist, Chimp Corps report.
“Rwanda National Police pursued and shot dead an armed terror suspect who had barricaded himself in a house in the Nyarutarama area,” the law enforcement body announced Thursday morning.
“The suspect has been identified as Channy Mbonigaba, originating from Rubavu District,” police added.
“In the incident which lasted about three hours on Wednesday night, the suspect exchanged fire with the police, injuring one officer.”
Since last year, RNP has been investigating individuals suspected of being radicalized and linked to foreign terrorist organisations.
Several suspected have appeared in court.
Rwanda Police this January shot a one Muhammad Mugemangango who had been in detention at Kanombe Police Station on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activities.
Mugemangango had led Police officers to his Kimironko residence for a search operation but on return, he jumped off the vehicle before being shot dead.
The incident took place at around 9:13 pm at Kimironko-Mushumbamwiza road.
Muhammad Mugemangango, who was Deputy Imam Kimironko Mosque, was under investigations for mentoring Rwandan youths into Jihad and recruiting them to join Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria.
Rwanda National Police said then that acting on info provided by the public, has detected formation of terror networks and “we will do our best to unmask the network and deal with them in accordance with the law.”
Following last night’s shootout, police reassured the general public, particularly residents of Nyarutarama that “operations are complete and situation is back to normal.”