The Vatican's Papal Nuncio in the central African country of Burundi, Irish bishop Michael Courtney, has been murdered.
A spokesman for the army said that members of the rebel National Liberation Forces ambushed the Papal Nuncio near the village of Minago south of the capital Bujumbura earlier today.
Archbishop Courtney, who was 58 and from Co Tipperary, was injured by gunshots to the head, shoulder, and leg. He was pronounced dead in hospital later.
The Vatican has expressed its 'deep sorrow and dismay' at the death.
