At least seven people, including a priest, died in clashes between armed groups in Alindao, Central African Republic (CAR), UN and church sources told AFP on Friday.

"Four Muslims were killed Thursday morning" by Christian militia fighters, and "three people died" in a separate attack by the Union for Peace in CAR (UPC), a UN source said.

A priest was among those who died in the clashes, and another has been missing since, according to a church source in Bangui.

Vladimir Monteiro, spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission Minusca, also confirmed the incidents, telling AFP that Christian militiamen known as anti-balaka had killed Muslims and an hour later, "the UPC responded by attacking a camp for displaced people" in Alindao.

The church of Alindao and a part of the camp were burnt, he added.

"Part of the population fled. Hundreds of displaced people have found shelter at Minusca's forward operating base" in the region.

Long a UPC stronghold, Alindao has witnessed chronic fighting in recent months that has also killed two UN soldiers and a humanitarian aid worker.

One of the world's poorest nations despite a rich supply of diamonds and uranium,the CAR has struggled to recover from a 2013 civil war that erupted when President Francois Bozize, a Christian, was overthrown by mainly Muslim Seleka rebels.

Since then, the country of 4.5 million people has been blighted by simmering sectarian violence which has killed thousands.

US gives Chad boats, trucks for fight against jihadists
N'Djamena (AFP) Nov 16, 2018 - The United States on Friday donated military vehicles and boats worth $1.3 million to Chad as part of a campaign against Islamist militancy in the country.

Chad is one of several West African states engaged in Western-backed operations against Boko Haram and the so-called Islamic State in a region where militants have gained a foothold.

US officials donated six boats and six trucks to Chad's military brigade operating in the Lake Chad basin, Richard K. Bell, US embassy charge d'affairs, said.

A group of 13 Chadian soldiers are in training in the United States, Bell said at a ceremony in the Chadian capital N'Djamena.

"The threat from Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa is centred mostly in the waters and rivers of the Chad basin and the northeast of Nigeria," Samantha Reho, a spokeswoman for AFRICOM, the US military's command in Africa.

The most recent attack by Boko Haram in Chad was last month when eight soldiers were killed.

Chad is a member of the G5 Sahel military group, a French-backed scheme conceived in 2015 to roll back jihadism and lawlessness in five states on the Sahara's southern rim.

Bringing together Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, it aims to become a 5,000-man joint force to restore authority in areas grappling with jihadists and brutal gangs.

The US donation to Chad marks an improvement in relations after a crisis in 2017 when the Trump administration put Chad on a blacklist of countries failing to share security information.

Chad was taken off the list in April after then US State of State Rex Tillerson visited N'Djamena and said the country remained an "important partner" in the fight against jihadists.

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