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Medical aid group's driver killed by gunmen in Central African Republic

by Reuters
Sunday, 19 June 2016 01:55 GMT

A sign is pictured over a black sheet outside the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland October 7, 2015. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

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Attack comes one month after MSF staff member was shot dead in similar ambush in the north

DAKAR, June 18 (Reuters) - A local driver for Medecins sans Frontieres in the Central African Republic was killed on Friday during an ambush on a convoy by unidentified gunmen, the medical aid group said on Saturday.

The attack, which occurred on the road between Sibut and Grimari in the centre of the country, comes one month after an MSF staff member was shot dead in a similar ambush in the north that led MSF to suspend its operation in the area. 

Thierry Dumont, the charity's chief in Central Africa, told French broadcaster Radio France Internationale that the reason of the attack was unclear.

But "trucks or humanitarian vehicles are economic targets", he added. "We are carrying goods, people have a little bit of money with them".

Central African Republic descended into chaos in early 2013 when mainly Muslim Seleka fighters seized power, triggering reprisal attacks by Christian anti-balaka militias.

More than 400,000 people have been displaced internally and some half-a-million have fled to neighbouring countries, according to the United Nations.

MSF, known in English as Doctors Without Borders, said more than two-thirds of the country's health facilities have been damaged or destroyed by fighting since 2013.

(Reporting by Marine Pennetier; Editing by Dan Grebler)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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