Fight Between Traders And Militiamen In Bangui Kills 11

Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic was a flashpoint for a clash between traders and militiamen, leading to the deaths of 11 people, this is according to two security personnel and an imam.

Security sources said on Wednesday that an estimated 11 or 14 people have died from a clash between the two groups, but an imam, Awad Al Karim, said that "16 bodies" were brought to the local Ali Babolo mosque.

The fights began after the traders in the PK5 district, consisting of mostly a Muslim population, opposed the taxes levied on them  by the militiamen, according to the imam.

Sporadic fires and explosions were hears in the evening of Wednesday and early Thursday morning, an AFP journalist reported.

The United Nations peacekeeping force, MINUSCA's, spokesman, Bili Aminou Alao, said that a response team has been deployed to the scene.

“Part of the market and some vehicles have been burned,” he said.

Patrick Bidilou Niabode, head of the CAR’s civil protection service said, “Between 40 and 50 shops have been burned down, as well as four or five houses.”

Firefighters on the scene tried to put out the fire that erupted and was beginning to spread but were unable to put out fires in two houses due to severe gunfire.

Central African Republic remains one of the poorest countries on the African continent and in the world, and it remains full of upheavals.