Two policemen were kidnapped by members of a rebel group on Monday in the northwestern part of the Central African Republic near the border with Chad and Cameroon, local media reported.
The incident occurred at the Ngaoundaye police station in the town of Bang with local authorities not yet being able to establish the reasons behind the abductions by the 3R group.
However, according to a news website, Corbeaunews-Centrafrique, a local security source said that the abductions may have been in response to the arrests of three group members in a joint-security operation by the C.A.R. army and the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).
In July, a United Nations peacekeeper from Rwanda was killed and two others were injured in an ambush by the 3R group on a convoy in Nana-Mambéré prefecture.
The group was established five years ago with the aim of defending the Fulani community against attacks by anti-Balaka militias, one of the two main armed groups in the country.
The Central African Republic has been unstable since gaining independence from France in 1960 and was plunged into further turmoil in 2013 when Muslim rebels from the Seleka umbrella group seized power in the majority-Christian country.
Violence has persisted in the country despite a peace deal being reached between the government of the Central African Republic and 14 rebel groups in early 2019 following weeks of talks in Sudan.
