Chadian army escorts thousands of Muslims fleeing C. African Republic violence

BANGUI, Central African Republic – Thousands of Muslims are fleeing for their lives in the capital of Central African Republic.

A mass exodus of Muslim residents aboard trucks was accompanied by heavily armed Chadian troops on Friday, according to Associated Press journalists at the scene.

One man who fell off a departing truck was slaughtered by an angry mobs and his body mutilated, highlighting the risks for those who stay.

Tit-for-tat violence killed more than 1,000 people in Bangui alone in a matter of days in December.

An untold number have died in the weeks that followed, with most of the attacks in Bangui targeting Muslims.

The country’s Muslim minority has been accused of supporting a Muslim rebel government that carried out scores of atrocities in the predominantly Christian country before the government collapsed.