Central African Republic: six soldiers killed by rebels

At least six soldiers died in a rebel attack on a military outpost in southeastern Central African Republic, a local official and a hospital director said on Friday.

According to a local government official, members of an alliance of armed groups known as the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC) assaulted a military camp on the outskirts of Bakouma town early on Thursday morning.

“Six soldiers and four rebels were killed,” he said.

The attack was confirmed by the head of a hospital in the nearby city of Bangassou, where bodies and wounded soldiers were taken, Reuters reported.

Mineral-rich Central African Republic has been mired in violence since a coalition of mainly Muslim Seleka rebels ousted then-president Francois Bozize in 2013, sparking reprisals from mostly Christian militias.