Red Cross Says 18 Killed in C. African Capital Since Saturday

At least 18 people have been killed in the Central African Republic capital of Bangui since Saturday as a result of clashes involving armed groups and foreign peacekeepers, medical staff and residents said Tuesday.

"At least 15 bodies have been picked up by Red Cross volunteers at the scene of the fighting," on the outskirts of the commercial PK-5 district, a Central African Red Cross official told Agence France Presse, asking not to be named.

Doctors without Borders (MSF) reported three further fatalities among people who had been wounded and said the high level of insecurity was hampering medical help and getting victims to hospital.

Muslim residents have been besieged for weeks by the majority Christian "anti-balaka" militia and by looters in this part of the city. Fighting between the rival communities broke out at the weekend.

On Tuesday morning, a brief bout of gunfire broke out in PK-5, where soldiers of an African Union intervention force (MISCA) have been deployed, backed by French troops of Operation Sangaris. Both forces are working to disarm militia fighters.

During the fighting since the weekend, both French and African troops opened fire, according to military officials. They shot dead eight members of the anti-balaka, including a militia leader, local residents told AFP.

MSF reported a "peak of violence" since Saturday, saying its staff had taken in "38 people wounded" by bullets, hand grenades and machetes. Three of the injured later died, the charity said.

On Monday, which was the first anniversary of the ouster of president Francois Bozize by the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel alliance that went on to rule for 10 months, MISCA and French soldiers were deployed in strength around Bangui.

Almost 2,000 French troops have been sent to the Central African Republic, a landlocked and poor nation plunged into chaos, to support 6,000 MISCA soldiers in a bid to restore a modicum of security.

However, anti-balaka militias, which were first formed as self-defense groups in response to atrocities carried out by mainly Muslim forces, persistently attack areas where Muslims live, leading to an exodus of hundreds of thousands of people.

Entire regions have been abandoned by a minority Muslim population that for decades lived peacefully alongside Christians, once the conflict took on unprecedented ethnic and religious dimensions.

The Roman Catholic archbishop, the head of the Protestant Church and the chief imam have jointly turned anew to the United States and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to plead for the speedy deployment of between 15,000 and 18,000 troops under the aegis of the United Nations.

"We need an operation and for it to happen without delay. We want to stop this descent into hell," Bangui's Archbishop Dieudonne Nzapalainga said Monday, after the three religious leaders went to New York and Washington between March 12 and 22.

"Sangaris and MISCA face enormous logistical problems. They are stretched to the limit and it's time to come and help them," Nzapalainga told AFP in Rome, where the three top clerics are due to meet Pope Francis on Wednesday.

Imam Oumar Kobine Layama agreed that the need for further help was urgent. "It's been almost a year since people have been able to work the fields. Seeds for the next crop have been lost as villages burned, just as the rainy season is approaching."