MINUSCA troops deployed on streets of Bangui after Monday's violence

United Nations (MINUSCA) troops in the Central Africa Republic have been deployed near the Muslim enclave of PK5 in the capital Bangui after violence erupted on Monday.

Witnesses said there was heavy fire in the PK5 area which caused many residents to flea the area.

Although the exact cause of the violence is not yet known, the country’s Minister of Territorial Administration and Public Security, Jean Serge Bokassa told Reuters that former Seleka rebels took six police officers hostage in Bangui on Sunday.

Bokasa said the government was doing everything possible to free the hostages.

It is also not clear if there is any link between the kidnapping and the gunfire and if any casualties were recorded during the violence.

At least 16 people were also killed and about 20 others injured in clashes between Fulani herdsmen and former Seleka rebels in the north of the country on Sunday and Monday.

Insecurity still persists in the Central African Republic months after president Faustin-Archange Touadera was sworn into office.

Muslim Seleka rebels had forced former president Francois Bozize out of office in 2013 during a rebellion.