Central African Republic Conflict: Civilians Burned Alive as Christian Militia Set Houses on Fire

At least two people have burned alive in the Central African Republic after Christian militia known as "Anti-Balaka" set their houses on fire.

Hundreds of civilians were also forced to flee as the armed militiamen raided their houses and clashed with the army in the capital Bangui.

The violence resulted in at least six civilians dead and four peacekeepers wounded. Three militiamen were also killed.

"The Anti-Balaka set fire to 22 houses," Joseph Tagbale, mayor of the district, told Reuters.

Clashes apparently broke out after the army tried to remove an Anti-Balaka barricade.

The violence is only the latest of numerous attacks between factions Anti-Balaka and Muslim Seleka, since the country plunged into civil war in December 2013.

According to interim president Catherine Samba Panza, the increasing violence in the capital is the result of a coup plot which aims to overthrow her.

Tagbale said that Rwandan peacekeepers, part of a 12,000-strong UN mission that started last month and replaced African Union troops, were deployed nearby to guard Samba Panza's home, but would not venture off the main road into residential areas to protect civilians.

Myriam Dessables, a spokeswoman for the UN mission known as Minusca, rejected the accusation.

"It's absolutely false. The Rwandan soldiers intervened to stop the violence," she said.

The CAR's conflict erupted following the overthrow of former president Francois Bozize, a Christian, by Michel Djotodia, a Muslim, in 2013.

Following the overthrow, the Anti-Balaka and Seleka have engaged in tit-for-tat violence that has resulted in thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of displaced people. The brutal ethnic cleansing that has taken place has been strongly condemned by several NGOs.

Due to increasing violence, Djotodia was forced to resign last January, as he was accused of being unable to halt the unrest. He was replaced by Catherine Samba Panza, who was deemed as politically neutral. Her election, however, did not halt the violence and civilians, including children, are routinely killed by the two factions.

Several NGOs and the UN repeatedly warned of the risk of a genocide in CAR, which "has all the elements that we have seen elsewhere, in places like Rwanda and Bosnia", and accused peacekeepers of abducting civilians and failing to halt the brutality.

A UN peacekeeper was killed in October, during an ambush in Bangui, following the deployment of the UN troops.

An investigation on war crimes by the International Criminal Court is ongoing.