FNL rebels want President Ndayizeye to start negotiations with them

At least two people are reported to have been killed as shells landed near the central bank and the main market area on the third day of rebel attacks on the capital.

Hutu rebels of the Forces for National Democracy (FNL) are battling mainly Tutsi government troops, in what is being described as the heaviest rebel attack on the capital in three months.

The city is very tense, but a BBC reporter in the city says there appears little possibility of the rebels actually taking the capital.

Government forces shelled the hills overlooking the city overnight seeking to push back the rebel assault.

Fleeing

On Tuesday, thousands of people fled their homes in the south of the capital.

Thousands seek refuge in schools and museums

The main market was closed as residents poured into the city centre from three districts in the south of the capital.

The BBC's Kazungu Lozi said more than 20 people had been killed since the clashes began on Monday.

Our reporter says thousands of residents of Bujumbura sought refuge in schools and museums in the city centre.

Negotiations

The FNL is the second largest rebel group opposed to the power-sharing government that was set up as part of the efforts to end the 10-year civil war between the two ethnic groups.

They say they will sustain their attacks to pressure the government of new President Domitien Ndayizeye to start negotiating with them.

Fighting has continued in Burundi despite a largely disregarded ceasefire signed in December 2002 by the main Hutu rebel group, the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD), and the government.

The FNL is one of four rebel groups in Burundi, and the only one that refuses to negotiate with President Ndayizeye. He took over in April under a power-sharing accord signed in Arusha, Tanzania, in August 2000.

A 3,000-strong force of African Union (AU) peacekeepers is in Burundi as part of AU efforts to end the decade-old conflict between the Tutsi-led army and Hutu rebel militias that has killed an estimated 300,000 people.