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Gunmen kill 11 in Central Africa Republic refugee camp- UN

Central African Republic

Eleven people were shot dead on Saturday in a camp for displaced people in the Central African Republic (CAR)? The UN’s MINUSCA said.

This comes days after 30 others were killed in fresh sectarian violence.

“Eleven people were killed and about 10 others taken to hospitals” after an unknown number of gunmen began shooting in the camp for internally displaced people in Ngakobo, 300 kilometres (180 miles) northeast of the capital Bangui, a statement said.

MINUSCA, which has around 12,000 peacekeepers and police on the ground, immediately took measures to reinforce its position around the displaced camp and to step up its patrols”, it said.

30 people died and 57 others were wounded on Wednesday when fighters from a mainly Muslim militia group attacked civilians and clashed with UN peacekeepers in the central town of Kaga Bandoro.

The fighters also attacked a camp for displaced people and an NGO office. UN troops from Burundi and Pakistan also hit back to protect civilians, killing 12 of the assailants.

CAR plunged into chaos after the March 2013 ousting of long-serving president, Francois Bozize by the northern eastern Seleka rebel alliance, escalating revenge attacks and a spiral of atrocities leading to the death of thousands.

The violence between rival militias, which took later on a sectarian element, displaced one in 10 of the country’s 4.5 million people.

The Central African country had appeared to be returning to normal after two years of bloodshed, holding peaceful elections early this year following a visit by the pope.

But despite the presence of thousands of UN peacekeepers and a few hundred remaining French troops, tensions remain high, and ten of thousands of people are still displaced.

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