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BUJUMBURA. — Gunmen wearing military uniforms shot dead a former Burundian security chief who was a close ally of President Pierre Nkurunziza, the presidency and witnesses said, heightening tensions after a disputed presidential poll. General Adolphe Nshimirimana, who was in charge of the president’s personal security at the time of his death, was killed in a car alongside three of his bodyguards in the Kamenge district of the capital Bujumbura, the sources said.

Witnesses said the four attackers wore military fatigues and sprayed the car with bullets, then drove off shortly after 8am (0600 GMT).

“Two had machine guns and two others rocket launchers. They came in military lorry and returned back in the same car,” Paul, a taxi driver, said.

Pictures circulated via social media showed a black bullet-riddled SUV with its front tires flattened and side windows shot out.

“He has been killed by a bullet . . . He was in the car with some bodyguards but I don’t know exactly what happened,” presidential adviser Willy Nyamitwe told Reuters.

The army and police were unavailable for comment. Burundi has been in chaos since late April when Nkurunziza announced he would seek a third term in office, a move Western powers and opponents said violated the constitution and a peace deal that ended an ethnically-charged civil war in 2005. — Reuters.