"The town of Bambari has once again been the scene of serious and blind violence causing numerous casualties, including four dead, more than a dozen injured and houses burned down," MINUSCA said in a statement released last night.
The mission, which is part of international efforts to restore peace and help transitional authorities after a 2013 coup led to civil war, said that it was "particularly concerned by the inter-communal nature of this violence".
When the man's body was found by locals and recognised as that of a Peul (Fulani), a people who mainly profess Islam, Muslim residents launched reprisals against Christians.
The mainly Muslim rebel Seleka coalition that took power in a March 2013 coup has set up its headquarters in Bambari since being routed from the capital Bangui last January with the aid of French military intervention.
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Since June, several dozen people have been killed and many wounded in clashes in the flashpoint trading town, which has a population of more than 41,000, according to a decade-old census.
In a nation where the role of the state has been undermined by decades of unrest, the latest strife had by last August displaced 500,000 people in a population of some 4.8 million, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Armed groups take advantage of the lack of law and order to rob humanitarian aid organisations in many regions, as well as terrorising local people.