The incident that took place in a village in the central part of the vehicle marks the worst bloodshed in recent months.
The Seleka (rebels) went door to door to kill the victims, said a spokesman for the presidency.
Muslim militants killed 26 civilians in a predominantly Christian village in the Central African Republic (CAR) after going door-to-door seeking out Christians to slaughter, Morning Star News reported. “The village chief was among the victims …” “It was a massacre”.
They said the violence between the mostly Muslim ex-Seleka rebels and Christian anti-Balaka fighters erupted Friday in Ndomete and spread six miles (10 kilometers) to Kaga-Bandoro’s city center into Saturday. Some 11,000 United Nations peacekeepers are deployed in the country as part of the agency’s so-called Minusca mission.
The U.N. mission also said Sunday it has “decided to strengthen its military presence in Kaga Bandoro and Ndomété to prevent any deterioration of the situation“.
Central African Republic, which holds reserves of uranium, gold and diamonds, suffered the biggest crisis in its half-century of independence in early 2013 when Seleka toppled then-President Francois Bozize.
“Ex-Seleka” is the term used for remnants of the supposedly disbanded alliance of mainly-Muslim armed groups which seized power in vehicle in late 2013 before being chased from the capital the following year. A fifth of the population fled their homes to escape the violence, leaving the impoverished nation even more divided along ethnic and religious lines.
The country has been plagued since 2013 by inter-communal and inter-religious clashes, which have persisted since President Faustin-Archange Touadera was sworn in in March after an election widely portrayed as a step towards reconciliation.