[Al Ahram] An Egyptian peacekeeper with the UN mission in the Central African Republic (CAR) was killed and three others maimed Sunday in an ambush, authorities said.The soldier died in an attack carried out by "armed elements affiliated with the anti-Balaka movement," the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSCA said.
Anti-Balaka were nominally Christian militias organised in response to the bloody sectarian violence unleashed by Moslem-majority Seleka
...a 'mainly' Moslem rebel force in the Central African Republic that overthrew the govt, imposed a regime of rapine and looting on the country's non-Moslem population, and was then tossed by France. They still exist, getting funding and weapons from somewhere or other, licking their wounds, complaining about the oppression of Moslems, and occasionally raping and looting someone...
rebels in 2013.
Mired in poverty but rich in minerals, CAR has been battered by a three-year conflict between the rival militias that began after then-president Francois Bozize was tossed.
During the attack on Sunday near the southern town of Gambo, three other peacekeepers were maimed and five attackers were "neutralised", MINUSCA said.
The attack happened while a MINUSCA convoy was making a run to reinforce a base.
The soldier's death raises to 13 the number of peacekeepers killed in attacks in CAR this year.