A Moroccan UN peacekeeper was killed Saturday in an attack in the Central African Republic's southeast, close to where five other peacekeepers also lost their lives in recent days, the United Nations said. An overnight attack targeted civilians in the town of Bangassou as well as a UN mission field office and "in the firefight, one peacekeeper of the Moroccan contingent died from gunshot injuries", the UN mission MINUSCA said in a statement.

It said the attackers were members of a wide coalition including the mainly Christian anti-Balaka group who "attacked civilian populations, targeting in particular Muslims", another sign of the continuing sectarian violence that has ravaged the country. MINUSCA also said there were reports of civilians killed.

"At this time it is difficult to ascertain the humanitarian situation in Bangassou. However credible sources have confirmed an undetermined number of civilian casualties," the statement said. Displaced people in the area have fled to the town's mosque, Catholic Church and the Doctors without Borders (MSF) hospital, it added.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017