A police officer was shot and killed in the urban area of Nyakabiga in Bujumbura, according to the spokesman of the National Police of Burundi.

The policeman was killed in a shooting incident during a night patrol.

“A group of police officers were attacked by armed criminals, six were injured and one was killed,” police spokesman Peter Nkurikiye said.

One of the civilian victims – a man whose identity is still unknown – was shot dead in the central district of Jabe, which has been the scene of numerous protests in April against the incumbent president, a Jabe head official said.

Three other dead bodies were found in the city’s northern district of Mutakura, where many protests were also held, police spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye confirmed to Anadolu Agency. Another body was found in the town of Mutimbuzi, according to the National Police of Burundi.

The UN Security Council is planning to go Burundi, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said on Wednesday.

Burundi has been gripped by instability since April when the ruling party named President Pierre Nkurunziza – in power since 2005 – as its candidate for the presidency.

Mostly opposition supporters, but those of Nkurunziza as well, have been killed amid the turmoil that began when the president announced plans to run for a third term.

According to the UN, at least 277 people have been killed in Burundi since the outbreak of the political and security crisis in April 2015.