Fighting flared between Burundi's army and its remaining rebels, with three people killed in the latest violence before parliamentary polls set for Monday, the army said on Saturday. The army has stepped up security in the last week and hunted for rebels from the Hutu Forces for National Liberation (FNL), in a campaign to forestall what it says are FNL plans to disrupt the elections in the tiny central African nation on Monday, according to Reuters. The polls are the latest stage in a U.N.-backed peace plan to end a 12-year civil war that killed at least 300,000 in fighting between the Hutu majority and the politically powerful Tutsi minority. The fighting on Friday in the FNL's stronghold around the lakeside capital Bujumbura forced hundreds to flee their homes, and two soldiers and one rebel were killed, the army said. "There are clear indications ... that the FNL is planning to destabilise parliamentary polls as it did it during the last municipal elections, but necessary measures have been taken to secure the polls," army spokesman Adolphe Manirakiza said. The army said the FNL soldiers ambushed a patrol, and earlier this week said it had killed 15 rebels and captured another 100 in a pre-election sweep. --More 1943 Local Time 1643 GMT
