Africa mine blast injures Bangladeshi peacekeepers

Two were seriously injured in Friday’s incident in Bohong, Ouham-Pende province, more than 500 kilometers (310 miles) from the capital Bangui, the MINUSCA mission said.

The peacekeeping mission said it “strongly condemns the use of unidentified explosive devices by armed groups in the Central African Republic.”

The UN mission said the two seriously injured were airlifted to the city of Bouar for treatment at a hospital run by MINUSCA.

On Thursday, three Tanzanian peacekeepers were injured in a mine explosion in the west.

The mines have killed eight people, including two women and a five-year-old child, in the restless northwest since August, according to MINUSCA.

The country of five million, one of the poorest in the world and ranked as the second least developed, has long been plagued by largely sectarian unrest, displacing hundreds of thousands and creating a major humanitarian crisis.

In recent months, the protracted conflict between rebels and government forces has changed course, and armed groups expelled from major cities have increasingly resorted to guerrilla tactics, including laying mines.

After several years of a simmering continuation of the civil war that erupted in 2013, recent months have seen an increase in violence.

President Faustin-Archange Touadera declared a unilateral ceasefire in October and his government claims to have regained 90 percent of the nation’s territory.

But widespread insecurity and a growing food crisis persist, especially in the Northwest.