Albino killings continue in Burundi

A 15-year-old albino girl was taken from her home and brutally dismembered this weekend.

A gang of seven men armed with spears, guns and machetes forced their way into the girl’s home near the Burundi capital of Bujumbura on Saturday evening and kidnapped her, local officials report. The girl’s remains were discovered later, the kidnappers had hacked-off the child’s limbs so they can be used to create black magic voodoo potions and fetish items.

In certain areas of central and eastern Africa superstitious and ignorant folk believe albinos to have magical powers capable of bringing good luck. To harness this supposed magic sub-Saharan albino Africans are often hunted like animals and brutally murdered and mutilated. Their limbs and sometimes genitals are removed and sold to witch doctors and traditional healers who manufacture lucky charms to sell at a higher price.

Saturday’s killing makes this the 18th albino murder in the past four years. Authorities in the country had stepped up efforts to stamp out the barbaric practice, any convicted albino hunters face the death penalty.

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