News: Three killed in latest Central African Republic clashes

TVC NEWS [BANGUI] - No fewer than three people have been killed and five wounded when clashes broke out between fighters in Central African Republic, a U.N. official and an aid worker said, amid intensifying violence in the country. TVC NEWS learnt that the latest fighting is centered in and around the town of Bambari, much of it controlled for the last year by the Union for Peace in Central Africa (UPC), a faction of the former Seleka rebel alliance. It would be recalled that Central African Republic was plunged into sectarian violence when the mostly Muslim rebel group briefly seized power in the predominantly Christian country in early 2013, prompting a wave of reprisals by the anti-balaka militia. U.N. and French peacekeeping forces have failed to restore calm. "Two people were killed during the fighting in a village 10 kilometers [6 miles] away [from Bambari] and one other died of his injuries," a U.N. official said on condition of anonymity. The dead were members of the UPC, its spokesman told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Witnesses said their deaths triggered more widespread violence in Bambari with gunmen opening fire in the town, burning houses and sending hundreds of people running for cover. They said anti-balaka forces descended into Bambari on foot, opening fire as UPC fighters roamed the streets on motorbikes while U.N. peacekeepers attempted to restore calm. Successive waves of fighting have forced at least 360,000 people from their homes across Central African Republic with up to 40,000 displaced in Bambari alone, according to U.N. figures.

CREDIT: TVC NEWS