Mob Lynches Muslim in Convoy Fleeing Strife-Torn C. African Capital

A mob lynched a Muslim on Friday after he fell off a crowded lorry taking frightened civilians out of the strife-torn capital of the Central African Republic, witnesses said.

A large convoy of lorries and taxis packed with Muslims fleeing Christian vigilantes headed north from Bangui under a slew of insults from angry residents, locals said.

The mob set on the victim after he fell off one of the lorries and hacked to pieces his body, which still lay by the side of the road by late morning, an Agence France Presse photographer saw.

Christian "anti-balaka" vigilantes tried to attack a second vehicle in the convoy, but they dispersed when troops from an African peacekeeping force, MISCA, fired warning shots, an AFP reporter saw.

Muslim Central Africans and foreigners have been fleeing Bangui for several months to escape killings, looting and harassment by armed militias drawn from the Christian majority in the city.

On Wednesday, uniformed troops of the Central African army (FACA) attacked a Muslim man just after a military ceremony in the capital, stabbing and stoning him in a murderous incident that led the United Nations and France to demand justice and exemplary punishment for the culprits.