5 killed in fresh violence in Central African Republic

BANGUI, Central African Republic

Four Muslim cattle traders were killed on Tuesday by unidentified assailants in the capital Bangui, security sources told Anadolu Agency.

The four lost their lives on the premises of the State Slaughterhouse Management Company, SEGA, added the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking with the media.

Another young Muslim shopkeeper was killed en route to picking up his wife from a maternity hospital by unidentified men.

The five bodies were deposited at the Ali Babolo Mosque in the Km5 neighborhood, according to Gen. Mohamed Moussa Dhaffane, leader of the splinter group Renewed Seleka for Peace and Justice.

The crimes follow the assassination yesterday of the commander of the nation's armed forces in the Bea-Rex district in Km5, according to the same source.

Commander Marcel Mombeka was shot by a sniper while he was passing through a Muslim enclave in the same neighborhood.

Mombeka later died from his wounds and his seriously injured teenage son was transported to the hospital.

Violence has returned to the CAR in recent weeks after a several months of stability and calm that followed the March 2016 presidential elections.

On Tuesday, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced that gunmen stormed into Gbaya Dombia hospital in the third arrondissement and attacked a patient in the facility.

Reacting to the attacks, MSF has announced the suspension of its activities in the arrondissement.

Since 2013 thousands of people have been killed in sectarian conflict in the country, and thousands have fled their homes to seek refuge in neighboring countries, including Cameroon and Chad.

In a report, Amnesty International has estimated that more than 5,000 people, most of them civilians, have died in sectarian violence in the Central African Republic despite the presence of international forces.

Violence erupted in the Central African state in 2013, when Muslim Seleka rebels ousted then-President Francois Bozize, a Christian who had come to power in a 2003 coup.

Fierce fighting continued between Seleka and Christian anti-Balaka rebels before ending last year.