Gunmen kill three in Bangui attack

Ten people were killed and 38 wounded on Saturday in an outbreak of violence sparked by the death of a motorcycle taxi driver in the capital of the Central African Republic, witnesses said.

At least 36 people had been killed and 80 wounded on Saturday and Sunday, according to workers at three hospitals who insisted on anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press.

The reprisal attack in Bangui came after a Muslim man was killed and his body found dumped in a street close to the airport, witnesses said.

Muslims left their stronghold in the third district of Bangui and attacked the largely Christian fifth district using automatic guns, heavier weapons and grenades.

The central PK-5 neighbourhood was the epicentre of unprecedented killings between Christians and Muslims in Bangui in late 2013 and early 2014.

The United Nations had taken over peacekeeping operations in Central African Republic (CAR) from a regional African force as more than 5,000 people have died in auto since December, in the wake of a coup that plunged the country into chaos.

“The government asks the population not to cede to the manipulation of extremists who are seeking to set the country on fire to satisfy their selfish political ambitions”, Security Minister Dominique Said Paguindji said on state radio.

Armed Christian militia members roamed the streets and protesters erected barricades on Sunday in the capital of Central African Republic, where deadly inter-religious clashes erupted a day earlier, witnesses said.

Voters are due to elect a new president and parliament on October 18 to replace an interim government led by Catherine Samba-Panza.

Some analysts say elections should be delayed to allow transitional authorities to make more progress on disarmament.