Tensions between the Hutu and neighboring communities have spiked since Congo’s army launched an offensive last year against the main Hutu militia in the region.

Bokele says the motive for the attack on a displaced group of mostly ethnic Hutus was unclear.

War in Burundi — which is overwhelmingly Hutu — started in 1993 when Tutsi paratroopers assassinated the country’s first democratically elected president, a Hutu.