Nearly Ten Die in Central Africa Clashes

Nearly ten people, most of them civilians, died when rival militias clashed earlier this week in the center of the strife-torn Central African Republic, a source in the African peacekeeping force said Thursday.

Meanwhile, the body of 26-year-old French photojournalist Camille Lepage, who was shot dead during an assignment in the country, left the capital Bangui on a French-bound cargo plane following tributes to her at a French military base, an Agence France Presse reporter said. 

The source in the African force Misca said the clashes erupted Wednesday near Dekoa between the mainly Christian "anti-balaka" force and the Seleka, a former rebel group who are mainly Muslim.

"We lament the deaths of nearly 10 people and many wounded, most of them civilians," the source said.

Following the clashes, ex-Seleka members carried out reprisal attacks in villages between Dekoa and Kaga Bandoro, the source said, adding some villagers were shot dead or wounded while looting took place.

In the mainly Christian town of Boda, in the south of the country, an armed man shot and killed a 12-year-old Muslim girl on Wednesday while also shooting and wounding a six-year-old girl and a baby, police said.

Police said the shooting occurred while a government delegation sought to mediate between Muslims and Christians who have been locked in sectarian violence that left nearly 100 dead at the end of January.

Lepage's body was due to arrive in Paris around 0500 GMT on Friday and a diplomatic source said an autopsy will be carried out afterward.

Central Africa's Prime Minister Andre Nzapayeke, officers from the international peacekeeping forces and journalists paid their last respects to her during a ceremony Thursday at the French military base in Bangui.

Lepage's body was recovered by French peacekeeping troops on Tuesday evening. She had been on an assignment with members of the "anti-balaka" earlier in the week when they were ambushed by fighters linked to rival militia groups.

At least ten fighters died in the ensuing battle in the village of Gallo in the west of the former French colony.

French authorities on Wednesday opened a judicial investigation into the journalist's death while the U.N. Security Council condemned the killing and urged the Central African government to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice.

Deeply impoverished Central Africa has been gripped by crisis since the Seleka alliance seized power in a March 2013 coup led by Michael Djotodia.

Splinter groups of Seleka rebels went rogue, embarking on a campaign of killing, raping and looting.

The abuses prompted members of the Christian majority to form vigilante "anti-balaka" groups, unleashing a wave of tit-for-tat killings that has left thousands dead and close to a million displaced.

Djotodia, now in exile in Benin, was replaced as president by interim leader Samba Panza in January after failing to stop the bloodshed.