A Rwandan journalist who accused the Rwandan government of trying to assassinate a dissident in South Africa was himself killed Thursday night in Rwanda's capital, Kigali. Jean-Leonard Rugambage, 34, an editor and reporter for a suspended private tabloid, was shot twice and killed late Thursday night near his home, police officials said. Violent crime is exceedingly rare in Kigali, which is known as one of the safest and most orderly capitals in Africa. The shooting is the latest in a string of deadly episodes in the Rwandan capital as the country approaches presidential elections this August. Although investigations were continuing and no arrests had been made, authorities had dismissed the possibility of foul play. 'It is very unfortunate,' said a police spokesperson, Eric Kayiranga. 'He was an ordinary man. At his level, I don't think he can be a threat.' But Jean-Bosco Gasasira, the senior editor of the local-language tabloid Umuvugizi, where Rugambage worked, claims that the Rwandan government was behind the killing and that intelligence services had been trailing his colleague for days. 'This was not an accident,' said Gasasira, who himself fled Rwanda earlier this year. 'He had spoken to me all week, informing me about surveillance on him.' Gasasira said that he and Rugambage had published an article on Thursday linking Rwandan government military and intelligence officers to the recent shooting of Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, a former high-ranking Rwandan general who recently defected to South Africa. Nyamwasa was shot and wounded by a lone gunman, who did not steal anything, on the streets of Johannesburg last Saturday. Umuvugizi's article claimed that a senior intelligence officer close to President Paul Kagame had telephoned orders to kill Nyamwasa, and that a former presidential guard was among the four suspects arrested in the past week in connection with the shooting. 'They knew he was becoming another source of information,' Gasasira said of Rugambage. Since the end of its genocide in 1994, Rwanda has become considered one of the safest and most orderly countries in Africa. But earlier this year, a series of grenade explosions shook Rwanda's tidy capital, and the government blamed the dissident former general, Nyamwasa. Since then, politicians have been arrested, newspapers closed, and an increasing number of soldiers and government officials have defected. Umuvugizi had published a number of articles documenting the attacks and their aftermath, alleging a growing divide in the military and ruling party. The Rwandan government suspended Umuvugizi, saying that it was a sensationalist newspaper that had spread false information on hearsay. While it publishes an online edition, where Rugambage's article about Nyamwasa's shooting appeared, the website has been blocked by a number of Rwanda's Internet service providers. Gasasira said the death of his colleague was proof his newspaper was telling the truth. 'If we make things up, is it worth shooting someone?' said Gasasira in a telephone interview. Frank Habineza, one aspiring presidential candidate whose party has been blocked from registering, said that the killing had raised more concerns and confusion. 'This is a government that has tried to restrict freedoms of expression, but I don't think it's a government that can kill people,' he said. 'All these happenings started after the grenades.' Since Nyamwasa fled, he and Kagame have published scathing critiques of each other in regional media. Rwanda has formally requested South Africa to extradite the general to Kigali, and a number of high-ranking Rwandan soldiers have been arrested. Last weekend Nyamwasa was shot in the stomach by an unknown assailant in his Johannesburg suburb, but was released from a hospital days later. Rwanda's government has dissociated itself with the attack against Nyamwasa, and offered his family condolences. 'Our government does not support violence,' government spokeswoman Louise Mushikiwabo said to local press in Rwanda earlier this week. 'Since the incident over the weekend, we as a government have expressed our sympathy to the family.' South Africa's government has kept silent on the identity and nationality of those detained in connection to the shooting. Four suspects still in custody are due to appear before court in Johannesburg next week. Election season officially began in Rwanda this week as Kagame and another presidential hopeful formally filed papers announcing their candidacy. But on Thursday police arrested over twenty protesters from a variety of political parties -- some of which have been blocked from registering -- and one aspiring presidential candidate, who had tried to petition in front of the American embassy in Kigali. 