Clashes leave 25 dead – UN

 Twenty-five people have been killed in two days of violence in the Central African Republic, the UN peacekeeping mission has said. On Thursday, 15 people died in clashes between Muslim fighters of the former Seleka militia and the Christian vigilante anti-Balaka group, it said. Six police officers and four civilians died in an ambush on […]

 Twenty-five people have been killed in two days of violence in the Central African Republic, the UN peacekeeping mission has said.

On Thursday, 15 people died in clashes between Muslim fighters of the former Seleka militia and the Christian vigilante anti-Balaka group, it said.

Six police officers and four civilians died in an ambush on Friday.

The Central African Republic has been wracked by conflict along religious and ethnic lines since 2013.

in a statement on Saturday, the Minusca mission said “clashes between elements of the anti-Balaka and ex-Seleka caused 15 deaths and a number of wounded” in the town of Bambari, about 250km (150 miles) north-east of the capital Bangui.

It added that “six gendarmes and four civilians lost their lives on Friday morning in an ambush on the Bambari-Grimari road”.

The UN mission urged all armed groups to end “the cycle of attack and reprisal”.

Seleka rebels briefly seized power in March 2013 and deposed the Christian President Francois Bozize.