Rebel groups and human rights sources in Burundi have cast doubt on reports that between one and two-hundred people were killed in clashes between rival rebel groups.

Radio Burundi and an army spokesman had said the deaths occurred in fighting last week near Bujumbura between two formerly allied rebel groups, the Burundian FNL Front National de Liberation and Rwandan Hutu rebels.

But spokesmen for the Burundian rebels said they had not been engaged in fighting and accused the government of propaganda.

Human rights sources in Bujumbura said they believed that some fighting had occurred between the two rebel groups, but that the number of dead had been greatly exaggerated.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service