More than a dozen people were killed in weekend clashes between residents and fighters from the Seleka rebel coalition that seized power in Central Africa last month, AFP reports according to medical and police sources and witnesses. Twelve people were killed in one area of the capital, several witnesses told AFP, while a source from the Red Cross said four had died in another part of Bangui, and three more elsewhere in the city. Police added that the clashes erupted as Seleka members were searching for weapons among residents. "We don't have all the details on the victims but after what we saw and the information we get from other medical sources there are close to 20 dead," said a source at a Bangui hospital morgue. Police said that according to first reports at their disposal and those provided by the Red Cross there were "nearly 20 dead and dozens of wounded", adding that the toll could rise. Witnesses contacted by AFP gave 12 dead in the capital's seventh district where mayor Joseph Tagbalet was among the wounded and taken to hospital. The shootings led residents to flee across the Oubangui river to neighbouring Congo. The Seleka coalition, led by strongman Michel Djotodia, took power in a rapid assault on the capital on March 24, the latest coup in the notoriously unstable country.
More than a dozen people were killed in weekend clashes between residents and fighters from the Seleka rebel coalition that seized power in Central Africa last month, AFP reports according to medical and police sources and witnesses.
Twelve people were killed in one area of the capital, several witnesses told AFP, while a source from the Red Cross said four had died in another part of Bangui, and three more elsewhere in the city.
Police added that the clashes erupted as Seleka members were searching for weapons among residents.
"We don't have all the details on the victims but after what we saw and the information we get from other medical sources there are close to 20 dead," said a source at a Bangui hospital morgue.
Police said that according to first reports at their disposal and those provided by the Red Cross there were "nearly 20 dead and dozens of wounded", adding that the toll could rise.
Witnesses contacted by AFP gave 12 dead in the capital's seventh district where mayor Joseph Tagbalet was among the wounded and taken to hospital.
The shootings led residents to flee across the Oubangui river to neighbouring Congo.
The Seleka coalition, led by strongman Michel Djotodia, took power in a rapid assault on the capital on March 24, the latest coup in the notoriously unstable country.