Heavy and light weapons fire was heard late on Thursday in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), where troops last week fought with former rebels who had helped put President Francois Bozize in power.
One witness who lives in the north of the city said several sporadic shots from light weapons were heard around 7.00pm [6pm GMT].
The shots were followed by heavy weapons fire, which ended at around 9.00 pm.
No government official or member of the security forces was immediately available for comment late on Thursday.
The government said on Tuesday it had stepped up security in the capital and suspended negotiations with former rebels who had brought Bozize to power but who fought troops on Saturday in a gunfight.
The fighters, who want a pay-off from the Bozize government, have declared themselves dissatisfied with the amount proposed and ran wild for an hour on Saturday in the north of Bangui, exchanging fire with regular troops.
Seven people were killed and 15 injured, according to hospital and other sources.
The dead included a soldier, while Minister for Mines and Energy Sylvain N’doutingai, who is an army major, and several other members of the defence and security forces were wounded, according to a source close to the government who asked not to be named.
The army, backed by foreign African troops deployed as peacekeepers in the CAR by other countries in the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa, moved in to stop the former rebels harassing citizens and to dismantle blockades they had put up.
Although some of the former rebels have been integrated into the regular army since last March, others have yet to disarm.
The former rebels said on Thursday they had asked Bozize to keep to his ”promise”.
”It is the fulfillment of this promise that interests us because we want to be reinstated in civilian life. We have no political demands, and we are not being manipulated,” said Captain Abakar Sabon, who said he was a representative of the ex-rebels.
On Thursday tension prevailed in the north of Bangui, where the former insurgents have attempted several times to erect barricades since Saturday’s clashes.
The drivers of taxis, the only means of public transport, refused to enter the area, where around 40 houses have been ransacked since the clashes, which provoked many residents to flee.
The former rebels have repeatedly been accused of committing rights abuses, including rape and murder, against civilians in CAR before and since Bozize was brought to power in a coup on March 15 last year.
He established a broad-based government, which has prided itself on bringing calm and law and order to Bangui, riven for years by unrest, army mutinies and the impact of widespread corruption under previous regimes.
The government had still been negotiating on Tuesday with the former rebels, who include fighters from neighbouring Chad as well as Central Africans, but suspended the talks once it was clear there could be no agreement, said a source close to Bozize.
The former fighters, believed to number 500, are ”demanding a million CFA francs (1 500 euros/$1 800) each, while President Bozize has offered them 150 000 CFA per person,” the source said. – Sapa-AFP