3 aid workers among 18 dead in attack on Central African Republic hospital

USPA News - At least 18 people, including 15 local chiefs and three people working for global aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF), were killed Saturday in an attack on a hospital in the Central African Republic, officials said on Sunday. The attack happened on Saturday when suspected Seleka rebels attacked an MSF-run 115-bed hospital in the northwestern town of Nanga Boguila, located between the cities of Bossangoa and Bozoum.

A government official in the capital Bangui, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed at least 18 people died at the facility. Tim Shenk, a spokesman for Doctors Without Borders, confirmed three of those killed in the attack were aid workers. "We confirm that three MSF colleagues were killed yesterday in Boguila, Central African Republic," he said. "We are not able to provide further information now about this incident. We will issue a statement tomorrow." Fifteen local chiefs who had gathered at the hospital to hold a meeting there were also among those killed in the attack, the government official said. The motive for the attack was not immediately known, and no other details were available on late Sunday night. Saturday`s attack followed an incident in Nanga Boguila on the evening of April 11, when fighting erupted between troops belonging to the African-led International Support Mission known as MISCA and local armed forces. The fighting, that included a large explosion and sustained gunfire, prompted some 7,000 civilians to flee the town. The current crisis in the African country began in December 2012 when mainly Muslim Seleka rebels seized large parts of the country, but recent months have seen unprecedented violence between Christians and Muslims. The conflict - in a country of just 4.4 million people - has prompted more than 290,000 people to flee to neighboring countries in search of refuge and left 650,000 people internally displaced. Thousands of people have been killed in the recent violence and escalating atrocities, including about 100 people who died in the town of Sagani in Nana-Mambere prefecture earlier this month during confrontations between civilians and militias. The Central African Republic has been through a series of coups and revolts since its independence from France in 1960. Located next to Cameroon, the African country is one of the poorest in the world, despite considerable agricultural, water and mineral resources. But corruption is rife and undermines the timber and diamond industries.