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Clashes in Bangui on Thursday hit a predominantly Muslim city in the capital of the Central African Republic, killing four people and wounding 26 people, according to local sources.
The PK5 district broke out in a climate of total violence after the killing of a vendor by a local militia.
The district has become a flashpoint in this troubled country, already weakened by sectarian violence and pursued by the militias.
Imam Awad Al Karim said that three members of a self-defense group had died and that their bodies as well as that of the seller had been transported Thursday to Ali Babolo mosque.
"It started with a conflict between a gasoline vendor and young gunmen," said Imam, explaining that the seller did not want to pay a tax imposed by the unit 's. local self-defense.
Two young people then threw a grenade, killing the 40-year-old man. The family of the victim turned to a rival militia to avenge his murder, causing clashes on Wednesday.
The spokesman of the UN mission in CAR, Vladimir Monteiro, told AFP that gunshots between criminal groups continued until the next day and up until the end of the day. on Thursday.
"We sent patrols to the district," he added.
The medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said 26 people had been injured last Thursday.
The shops on Barthelemy Boganda's main avenue in the area have been closed and the streets deserted, said an AFP journalist.
"It started with a simple racket case, but the market is empty and people are scared," said a trader.
The distinction between combatants and civilians is sometimes difficult to establish in the PK5 district, a major economic center that has been an intermittent battlefield since 2014.
CAR is one of the poorest and most volatile countries in the world.
It sank in blood in 2013 after the overthrow of the country's longtime leader, François Bozizé, by a Muslim-majority rebel alliance, the Seleka.
Nominally Christian militias called the anti-Balaka appeared in reaction, accelerating the cycle of sectarian violence.
Former colonial power, France intervened militarily from 2013 to 2016 to expel the Seleka, then put an end to the operation.
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