Chad accuses CAR of killing six of its soldiers | Al Jazeera

The Chad government on Monday accused the Central African Republic (CAR) of killing six of its soldiers in an attack on an outpost in the south of the country.

“The Central African armed forces attacked the outpost of Sourou in Chad on Sunday morning … killed a Chad soldier, injured five and kidnapped five others who were then executed in Mbang on the Central African Republic side,” Chad’s Foreign Minister Cherif Mahamat Zene said in a statement.

The CAR regularly accuses its northern neighbour of supporting armed rebel groups from inside Chad.

The identity of the alleged CAR rebels is yet to be confirmed but a senior Chad security official told AFP news agency, speaking on condition of anonymity, that the rebels were members of Unity for Peace in Central Africa (UPC).

The UPC is one of CAR’s most powerful armed groups, which is part of a coalition seeking to topple the government of President Faustin Archange Touadera, the official said.

Central African authorities had not yet responded to requests for comment as of Monday morning.

The Sourou outpost near the village of Mbere, which was manned by 12 soldiers, was attacked at dawn, Zene said in his statement.

This “war crime is extremely serious and this deadly attack, which was pre-meditated, planned and operated from inside Chad – for reasons known only by the Central African government – will not go unpunished”, he added.

Zene said Chad would “call the international community to bear witness” to what he branded a “serious aggression”, notably the UN’s 12,000-strong peacekeeping force in CAR, MINUSCA, as well as the African Union and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS)....