Four killed in clashes between UN, militia in C.Africa: source

Four people were killed in clashes between UN peacekeepers and an armed group in the southwest of the Central African Republic, an area so far spared much of the violence that has ravaged the country since 2013, a security source said on Monday.

"Four people were killed. One of them was apparently the head of Siriri," the source said, referring to a new armed group set up at the end of last year.

The United Nations' mission in the Central African Republic, MINUSCA, said in a statement that it had "intervened on Sunday morning in the prefecture of Mambere Kadei... to stop the movement of armed elements of the Siriri group to the town of Gamboula."

"Upon arrival at the village of Nassole, where members of the Siriri group had erected a barricade, the peacekeepers were the target of enemy fire and fired back, causing casualties among the attackers," the MINUSCA statement said.

"MINUSCA has strengthened its security apparatus in this area," it added.

There have been a number of deadly clashes between peacekeepers and militia in CAR in recent weeks.

On April 12, two inmates were killed and a third was injured after violence erupted in Bangui's Ngaragba central prison.

In a separate incident, 19 people, including a UN soldier, were killed and more than 100 wounded in clashes in the volatile PK5 Muslim enclave of the capital.

Those clashes marked the bloodiest incident in Bangui since President Faustin-Archange Touadera was elected in 2016.

The former French colony of 4.5 million people spiralled into bloodshed after longtime leader Francois Bozize was overthrown in 2013 by the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel alliance.

France intervened militarily from 2013 to 2016 to push out the Seleka alliance but wound down the operation after Touadera came to power.

The country remains plagued by violence between ex-rebels and vigilante militias.

MINUSCA plays a crucial role in supporting Touadera's government, which can claim to control just a fifth of the country, with the rest in the hands of militias.