[An Nahar] At least 13 people were burned alive in the Central African Republic at the weekend when they were rounded up by gunnies and barricaded inside a home that was set alight, a police source said Tuesday.
The attack was carried out by men believed to be linked to former rebels of the mainly Mohammedan Seleka group and the Fulani ethnic group in the region of Kaga Bandoro in the country's center, a source with the local police force said.
"One resident who tried to escape through a window was riddled with bullets. All were burnt to death in the house fire," the source said, adding that "many other residents, who had managed to flee, arrived horrified at Kaga Bandoro, where they took refuge in St. Theresa cathedral."
An official from the former Seleka rebels told Agence La Belle France Presse that Seleka rebels for a long time had not visited the region, instead blaming the violence on members of the Fulani tribe, whose animals were stolen by anti-Balaka militias, and villagers conducting reprisals. |