AT LEAST six civilians were killed in an attack on a village in the north-east of the Central African Republic (CAR) on Saturday, the United Nations has confirmed.

Several more were wounded in what the UN peacekeeping mission described as “a large-scale attack” by rebel forces allied to the Return, Reclamation, Rehabilitation group, commonly known as 3R.

A conflict was ignited last December when President Faustin-Archange Touadera was re-elected in a widely boycotted poll.

The 3R group was one of many armed militias that rejected the outcome of the election and began to march on the capital Bangui.

The groups controlled some two-thirds of the country at that time and vowed to topple Mr Touadera’s government.

Russian forces have been inside the CAR since 2018, supporting the army as it tries to bring stability to the country, which is the second-least developed in the world.

Government forces have retaken most of the territory captured by the rebels, but the situation remains volatile.

The UN security council extended an arms embargo on the CAR on Thursday in a bid to stop weapons from reaching the rebels.