Ethnic Hutu rebels killed five people in an overnight attack on Burundi's capital just as the central African nation's main political parties tried to thrash out a peace deal.
The rebels moved into a poor neighbourhood on the north-eastern edge of Bujumbura and attacked a military camp.
Army officials in Burundi said a soldier was killed in the attack and that four civilians - three of them women - were killed by the rebels in raids on homes in the area.
The Interior Minister, Col Ascension Twagiramungu, said the timing of the attack demonstrated the rebels' opposition to peace. He also said it showed the failure of Western and African governments to push the armed groups towards a ceasefire.
"The international community could not bring the rebels to the negotiating table and make them lay down their arms and negotiate a real peace," Col Twagiramungu said.
Yesterday Col Twagiramungu said the government needed to give priority to security measures because it faced "rebels, terrorists and genocidaries who carry out these killings".
In the Gasenye district, which came under attack on Sunday night, armed rebels burst into the home of Mrs Sylvie Hebimana and shot dead her husband, Fidel.
"They shot him and stole our things," Mrs Hebimana said yesterday morning.
"When they left, my children started crying and asking `Where is our father, where is our father?' " she said.