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Nine killed including U.N. peacekeeper in Central African Republic

10 October 2014 03:36 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A U.N peacekeeper from Pakistan was killed in an ambush in the capital of Central African Republic on Thursday bringing the death toll in 48 hours of fighting to at least nine, according to the United Nations and the country's Red Cross, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Human Rights Watch said the unrest is the most serious in months in a country where thousands have died and more than 1 million have fled in two years of conflict over power and resources.

Gunfire and explosions rang out in Bangui on Thursday. Streets emptied, shops closed and youths blocked roads with barricades in unrest that appeared to center on the mainly Muslim KM-5 neighborhood.

In all, 25 people excluding peacekeepers have been wounded since Tuesday, the Red Cross said.

Soldiers from the French and U.N. peacekeeping mission patrolled the KM-5 area, witnesses said. The ambush, however, occurred in the KM-11 neighborhood on the outskirts of the city.

A peacekeeper was seriously wounded in that attack on troops from Pakistan and Bangladesh and seven others were also lightly wounded, said the head of the U.N. mission, General Babacar Gaye. He condemned the attack and called for dialogue.

"In the next 72 we will know the impact of these events. Anything is possible. It might calm down or it might not," he told Reuters by telephone.

The United Nations in mid-September took over the peacekeeping mission that was previously run by the African Union.

Central African Republic, which is poor despite gold and diamond reserves, was plunged into chaos as mostly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in March 2013.

Their rule was marked by abuses that prompted a backlash from Christian and animist militia known as "anti-balaka". France sent troops to its former colony and an existing African peacekeeping force was beefed up.

Sporadic violence has continued despite the Seleka leader's resignation from the presidency in January and the formation of a transition government led by Catherine Samba-Panza.