10 killed in CAR
2006-02-06 15:00
Bangui - Troops in the Central African Republic killed about 10 unidentified "armed bandits" who attacked a town in the north of the country, sources said on Sunday.
The raid happened on Tuesday at Paoua, 500km north of the capital Bangui, they said. Several of the attackers were wounded and others taken prisoner.
"The attackers were looking for money, goods and weapons," said a military source who did not wish to be named.
"But they ran into a detachment of the army based in Paoua which fought off the attack."
"We counted about 10 dead among the raiders as well as wounded and prisoners," he added.
He said that "armed groups" first attacked the local airfield, then the market, before moving on to police headquarters.
Sources close the presidency confirmed the attacks, as did a French military source who reported a provisional toll of nine dead, two wounded and six prisoners among the raiders.
For more than six months "armed groups" and bandits have been active in the northwest of the country.
The raid on Paoua is the most serious incident since attacks last year on two villages, one in September on Markounda near the border with Chad, the other in December on Kabo, 450km north of Bangui.
The two raids were claimed by a previously unknown group, the People's Army for the Restoration of the Republic and Democracy (APRD), which seeks the overthrow of President Francois Bozize, elected in May after a coup in March 2003.
A military source said the raid on Paoua followed the pattern of those on the villages, in that the symbols of authority were attacked and not local people, usually targeted by bandits.