A five-year-old albino girl has been kidnapped and dismembered in Burundi, officials have said.
Gunmen stormed into the child's home in the early hours of Wednesday morning, attacking her parents before abducting her.
They were pursued by the family's neighbours, who later discovered the girl's dismembered body.
A local spokeswoman told the AFP news agency that "the bandits had taken one of her arms".
An investigation has been launched into the girl's death, but police are certain the gunmen were targeting the girl as nothing else was taken from the property.
It is the first reported killing of a person with albinism in Burundi for four years.
Often, they are murdered so their body parts can be used in witchcraft rituals.
More than 20 albino people have been killed in the eastern African country since 2008.
Although a dozen people were charged in 2009 for murdering or plotting to murder albinos, all of the convicts managed to escape two years later.
In neighbouring Tanzania, a worryingly lucrative black market trade in the organs and body parts of albino people means an entire corpse can sell for as much as £50,000.
Albinism is a genetic disorder which causes a lack of pigmentation in the hair and skin.
Witch doctors who perform charms and spells using albino body parts, claiming they can bring good luck and wealth, have been banned by governments in the region.
Despite this, the killings have continued - with human rights groups alleging that politicians are often behind the attacks.
Source: SKY News
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