Nine Chinese nationals were killed in a mine located in the civil war-torn Central African Republic.

China's President Xi Jinping condemned the attack today and called for those responsible to be "severely punished", reported AFP.

The attack was carried out yesterday at dawn in the Bambari region, in the center of the African country, the mayor of the local municipality, Abel Machipata, told AFP.

"We counted nine bodies and two wounded," he said.

According to him, the victims were of Chinese origin and worked in a mining facility - owned by the "Gold Coast Group" company, located 25 km from the settlement and attacked by armed men.

China confirmed the number of casualties today, citing "two seriously injured", but gave no further details on the attack, for which no one has yet claimed responsibility.

Xi Jinping "called for all necessary efforts to be made to treat the injured" and "severely punish the killers as provided by law," Chinese diplomacy said in a statement.

"With the exception of the capital Bangui, the security in the other regions of the Central African Republic has reached red, that is, an extremely high level of risk," the ministry pointed out and invited Chinese citizens to leave the dangerous areas as quickly as possible, writes BTA.

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The Patriots for Change coalition, an alliance of rebel groups formed in 2020 to oust President Faustin-Arcange Touadera, denied in a statement yesterday that it had anything to do with the attack.

She condemned it as an "unworthy and barbaric act" and accused "Russian mercenaries from (private military company) Wagner" of being behind this attack. 

The Central African Republic, the second least developed country in the world according to the United Nations, has been in a civil war since 2013.

In late 2020, the most powerful armed groups, then controlling two-thirds of the country's territory, launched an offensive on Bangui, and Towadera called on Russia to help his weak army.

There were already several hundred fighters from Russian paramilitary structures in the country, and hundreds more joined them.

In a few months, the rebels were pushed back and driven from some regions - until then under their control, but the country's central authorities still do not have a permanent presence everywhere.