At Least 28 Killed in latest C. Africa Violence

At least 28 people have died and dozens have been injured in the latest clashes between rival militias in the Central African Republic, which was ravaged by a months-long sectarian bloodbath, police said Thursday.

The fighting in the diamond-rich but dirt poor former French colony pitted the so-called "anti-balaka" militia formed by the Christian majority against mainly Muslim Seleka rebels who led a March 2013 coup, a police official said.

"Violent clashes broke out on Tuesday in the center of Mbres," an official from the armed police told AFP, adding that the death toll had been given by the local Red Cross.

The unrest came days after a reconciliation ceremony between ex-Seleka fighters and anti-balaka forces was held in Mbres, about 300 kilometers (190 miles) from the capital Bangui.

The official said the fighting sent hundreds of residents fleeing to the bush on Wednesday, less than a week after the peace bid organized by the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the unstable country.

On Thursday, the former Seleka rebels were "in control of the center of the town and imposing their will".

"Things are still tense on Thursday morning," the official said, adding that there was "sporadic gunfire."

Anti-balaka forces were meanwhile "holed up around the edges of the town and in surrounding caves," he added.

Local officials had fled Mbres for Bangui, the police official said. Mbres has been the scene of several clashes in recent weeks.

Central African Republic has suffered numerous coups and bouts of instability since independence in 1960, but the March 2013 toppling of Francois Bozize's regime by the Seleka rebel coalition triggered the worst emergency to date.

Relentless attacks by the mainly Muslim rebels on the Christian population spurred the formation of vigilante groups that took revenge on Muslim civilians, driving them out of most parts of the country.

Several thousand people were killed in the tit-for-tat attacks, which have plunged much of the population of 4.8 million into an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.