At least five people were killed and 10 others injured in clashes on Wednesday, October 1, 2014, in the CAR town.

Bambari, the third town in the Central African Republic and headquarters of Ouaka Division has become notorious for insecurity and violent clashes between militia that have claimed scores of lives. On Wednesday, October 1, 2014, armed gunmen encroached into the camp of displace people from Mpoko in Bangui residing in the town and opened fire, RFI reported.

The camp is guarded by soldiers of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA). The MINUSCA peacekeepers responded and the cross-fire with the invading gunmen resulted in the death of five people and 10 others injured. There was however, no specification on the identity of the people who died, as well as that of the attackers. The International Committee of the Red Cross reported calm in the camp in the afternoon, RFI said. The injured people were taken for medical care in the Bambari Hospital.

Reports further said in the confusion, the office of the American Non-governmental Organisation, Mercy Corps was ransacked and looted necessitating the evacuation of staff.

The town of Bambari, reports say, was calm during the first months of the sectarian fighting in the Central African Republic until the arrival of the Anti-balaka militia last May.  Since then, instability became deep rooted in the area with deadly clashes between the belligerent Seleka and Anti-balaka fighters and at times between rival factions of the Seleka militia.

The concrete manifestation was the fighting between rival factions of Seleka led by General Ali Darass and General Joseph Zoundeko Seleka last August 25 that led to the killing of 17 people and three injured. In June, 32 people died in fighting between Seleka and Anti-balaka militia in the same town.