Fourteen people were brutally murdered on February 16 in an apparent attack on a religious site in a Central African Republic town, a human rights group said on Thursday.

“Testimonies, satellite imagery, and photographic analysis confirm the killing of 14 people last week in a religious site in Bambari,” Amnesty International said in a statement.

Violence escalated ahead of the December 27 elections after a coalition of six militant groups, which control two-thirds of the country, seized several towns and besieged the capital Bangui.

Amnesty, a London-based rights pressure group, said many civilians were killed during the election period as government troops clashed with rebels across the country.

Bambari, the main trading hub of the Ouaka prefecture, was occupied by militants on December 22, 2020.

Government forces launched an offensive to drive them out on February 15.

“The organisation’s Crisis Evidence Lab received and analysed multiple images and one video that can be geolocated to a religious site in the east of Bambari, showing the bodies of people reportedly killed on February 16,” it said.

The people in the photos wore no military clothes, suggesting they were civilians.

There were a woman and a child among those killed. The visible damage to the building and bodies pointed to the use of explosives.

Amnesty called on the authorities to urgently open a probe into the incident and identify those responsible.

It said the government should protect civilians from abuse by both militants and security forces.

(Sputnik/NAN)