Anti-Muslim militia attacks UN in Central African Republic

Militants with the mostly Christian anti-Balaka group in the Central African Republic killed one United Nations peacekeeper and injured 11 others during an attack on a UN base, the organization confirmed. UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said the militants attacked the temporary base in Tagbara, and peacekeepers engaged them in a gun battle that lasted several hours. The peacekeeping mission reported that more than 22 militants died in the fighting. The Central African Republic fell into chaos in 2013 after the Muslim Seleka rebel group overthrew the Christian government. The anti-Balaka militia stepped up to fight back, and several other armed groups have sprung up across the country since then. Dujarric said peacekeepers on Tuesday also found the bodies of 21 civilians, including four women and four children, in a separate incident in Tagbara. The UN confirmed the release of 23 people, including 13 women and three children, after members of the Union for Peace in Central Africa, another mostly Muslim rebel group, kidnapped them. Dujarric said the UN mission “strongly condemns all of these events.”