At least 100 civilians were killed
outside Bujumbura by army soldiers in early November, local
residents told reporters of an independent radio station at the
scene on Tuesday.
Residents of Mutambu town accused the Tutsi-majority army of killing the civilians after fighters of the National Liberation Forces (FNL), the armed branch of the Hutu opposition PALIPEHUTU, attacked a camp sheltering displaced people, mainly Tutsis.
The Mutambu massacre had not been officially reported as of Tuesday.
A reliable military source told reporters of Studio Ijambo that all the victims were civilians.
"Everything started with an FNL attack overnight on October 30", a survivor aged 35 said. "They killed six people, wounded one and stole five cows."
A few days later, soldiers came and killed many people in broad daylight at Rutovu, a hill about a kilometer (half a mile) from the town, he said, adding: "I saw 19 bodies with my own eyes."
Another survivor said: "My fiancee was killed as well as 17 other members of her family.
"Before coming here, we counted 99 bodies. They weren't even buried", he added.
The local administrator of Mutambu, Aloys Barasotera, agreed to break official silence on the killing, saying: "There were more than 70 dead at Rutovu.
"I haven't had the report from the sector chief. He himself is in mourning because he lost his son and brother-in-law", Barasotera added.
Human rights observers were prevented from going to the scene, witnesses said.
A legislator from the town said that local residents buried 31 bodies.
"The figures the people gave you were exaggerated", he said. "If you ask a Hutu extremist, he'll tell you 200 civilians were killed by the army. The figures vary according to the ethnic group you ask."
A source closed to the vice presidency said political figures had asked for an investigation into the killings.
Since the 1993 assassination of Burundi's first elected president from the Hutu majority, Melchior Ndadaye, the tiny central African country has been ravaged by civil war between the Tutsi-dominated army and Hutu rebels which has left more than 200,000 dead.
A ceasefire has been in effect since July 20, but several rebel dissident factions have said they are not bound by the truce.