C.Africa rebel attack leaves five dead

Five people have been killed in an attack by armed rebels on an army base in the Central African Republic (CAR), regional officials said on Thursday.

Three of those who died in the four-hour attack on Tuesday were civilians -- two women and a boy, deputy prefect Jean Ulrich Semberkpanga said.

The attack occurred in Nzakoungou near the borders with Chad and Cameroon, he said.

Martin Kossi, the prefect of the Ouham-Pende region, said two soldiers from the CAR's armed forces had also died.

Authorities have implicated rebels of the Return, Reclamation and Rehabilitation (3R) faction, one of the region's most powerful armed groups, presenting itself as a Fulani self-defence militia.

A civil war in the CAR that began in 2013, pitting myriad militias against a state on the verge of collapse, had eased considerably in recent years.

But about a year ago, fighting resumed abruptly when rebels launched an offensive to overthrow President Faustin Archange Touadera.

Long-promised national reconciliation talks began this week but no rebel groups are invited and the opposition has decided to boycott them.