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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Twenty killed in Bangui funeral attack |
| 2014-03-29 |
| A grenade attack on a funeral ceremony in the Central African Republic has killed 20 people and left another 11 injured. The attack occurred late Thursday night in Fatima, a Muslim neighborhood of the capital, Bangui. A witness, Samba Vianney, said that residents had come together to mourn the death of a neighbor who was killed in fighting over the weekend. He said there were "loud bursts of gunfire, followed by grenade explosions." Vianney blamed the attack on members of the anti-balaka militia, whose attacks have caused tens of thousands of Muslims in the C.A.R. to flee in recent months. The head of the African peacekeeping force in the C.A.R., General Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko, said this week that his forces will now treat anti-balaka as "enemies". The anti-balaka -- whose name means "machete proof" or invincible -- formed last year in response to a wave of violence by mostly Muslim Seleka rebels. Mokoko told a Bangui radio station that the militias will not be treated as self-defense groups. |
| Posted by:ryuge |