12 killed in Central African Republic clashes

At least 12 people were killed in the Central African Republic in fighting between two factions of a former rebel group in the town of Bambari, Reuters reports.

Insecurity has persisted since President Touadéra was sworn in in March, after an election intended to end inter-communal and inter-religious violence which started in 2013.

The fighting which reportedly started on Monday when a local businessman was murdered, involved members of the Union for Peace in Central Africa, which is part of the Seleka militia.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission, MINUSCA, restored calm.

“We have received 14 wounded, of whom six are serious, and they were evacuated to Bangui this morning. According to our information, there were that many wounded on the field of combat,” the director of the hospital in Bambari told Reuters.

The U.N. mission declared Bambari a non-armed zone in 2014. But this has not stopped sporadic clashes in the town, northeast of the capital.

Two people also died when a young man who had been arguing with friends in the mainly Muslim PK-5 neighbourhood of Bangui threw a grenade, Ibrahim Hassan Frede, spokesman of an association that coordinates Muslims in the area