Gunmen fatally shot two French soldiers in Central African Republic's volatile capital, officials said Tuesday, underscoring the enormous challenges of a new French military intervention that includes disarming thousands of rebels accused of attacking civilian
Aid officials in Central African Republic say more than 500 people have been killed over the past week in sectarian fighting.
Antoine Mbao Bogo with the local Red Cross said that aid workers have collected 461 bodies across the capital of Bangui since Thursday (local time).
That figure does not include the scores of Muslim victims whose bodies were brought to mosques for burial.
Muslim rebels overthrew the president of this predominantly Christian country in March, though religious motives played little role at the time. Since then, the armed Muslim fighters have been accused of carrying out atrocities against civilians and resentment toward them has grown.
Last week that pent-up rage exploded into attacks on Muslims suspected of having ties to the rebellion.
