Attackers wielding guns and machetes have killed 22 people in an assault on Muslims fleeing sectarian violence in the Central African Republic, Save the Children has reported.
Three of the dead were said to be children, according to spokesman Mike McCusker. He said doctors had described gory scenes after gunmen ambushed a convoy of refugees, firing a rocket-propelled grenade to halt the vehicles before attacking with firearms and machetes.
Mr McCusker told reporters: "Our doctor said there was blood everywhere, just pouring out of people like tap water."
The attack in the remote north-west of the country outside the town of Bouar illustrates how African and French peacekeepers are not reaching remote areas where violence goes unreported, the British charity's country director Robert Lankenau said.
More than 1000 people have died in the Central African Republic since December and nearly one million have been forced from their homes since a rebel leader seized power last year.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article