Bujumbura, Feb. 06 (CWNews.com) - A Jesuit priest was killed in Burundi on Saturday night, February 4, when he was caught in an exchange of gunfire between government troops and rebel militia forces in the country's capital, Bujumbura.

Father Elie Koma was killed instantly when he was struck by three bullets as he drove home. He had happened upon the scene of a gunfight, after government soldiers caught rebels who were looting a warehouse.

Only one rebel group, the Forces for National Liberation (FNL) remains active in Burundi, after other forces have agreed to disarm and join in the government. The FNL holds pockets of support in Bujumbura and its outskirts, forcing local residents to feed and housed them of face beatings and even death.

The Vatican envoy to Burundi, Irish-born Archbishop Michael Courtney, was shot dead in an ambush in Minago, south of Bujumbura on December 29, 2003.