"Violent clashes broke out on Tuesday in the centre of Mbres," an official from the armed police told AFP, adding that the death toll had been given by the local Red Cross.
The clashes in the former French colony were the latest pitting the so-called "anti-balaka" militia formed by the Christian majority against mainly Muslim rebels who led a March 2013 coup, the official said.
Mbres, 190 miles from the capital Bangui, has been the scene of several clashes in recent weeks.