French Troops Kill Armed People in CAR and Death Toll Jumps to 92 in One Hospital
Violence in the capital of the Central African Republic has left 92 dead and 155 wounded in one Bangui hospital, Doctors Without Borders said Friday, in a new toll.
"Community hospital: 155 wounded in two days, 92 bodies in the mortuary", the charity said in a brief message sent to Agence France Presse. Doctors Without Borders, which has medical and surgical staff working in the hospital, was unable to say whether the bodies brought to the mortuary on Friday morning were people killed overnight or those left dead in the street on Thursday.
On Thursday, French troops killed several armed men in a clash near the airport in the Central African Republic's capital Bangui, the army said.
"At dawn (Thursday), an armed pick-up opened fire three times in the direction of civilians and French troops. After the third time, we retaliated and destroyed the vehicle," a spokesman for the French general staff said.
The clash took place before the U.N. Security Council on Thursday gave a green light for a mission that will see France send an additional 600 troops to the African country, doubling the force it already has in and around the capital.
The resolution authorized the deployment of up to 3,600 African and 1,200 French troops to try to contain violence in CAR that erupted after a March coup.
Source: Agence France Presse
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