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The C.African government said the plane was targeting a defense forces base and a cotton factory.
BANGUI (AFP) – A plane flew in from a neighboring country overnight and bombed Central African Republic (CAR) troops and their Russian paramilitary allies, but caused only material damage, the government said on Monday.
The plane struck a defense forces base and a cotton factory and “dropped explosives on the northern city” of Bossangoa, the Central African Republic government said in a statement.
The plane flew out of CAR after the attack, according to the statement.
“The explosives caused significant material damage,” the government said.
“This plane, after committing these crimes… headed north… before crossing our border.”
Chad lies north of Bossangoa, a city that was in rebel hands until recently.
The Central African Republic is one of the world’s poorest and most unstable countries, experiencing rare moments of peace since it gained independence from France in 1960.
It plunged into a bloody civil conflict in 2012 that was eased by the intervention of former colonial power France and the deployment of a UN peacekeeping mission.
In 2020, a coalition of rebels advanced on the capital, Bangui, threatening to overthrow the government.
Russia sent paramilitaries to help repel the threat and then retake much of the rebel-held territory.
The operatives are described by Bangui as military advisers, but by France, the UN and others as mercenaries for the Kremlin-backed Wagner group.
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