BANGUI: Three Rus­sian journalists killed in the Central African Rep­u­blic, and reported to be probing a private Russian army there, were shot dead at a roadblock by a nine-man group, the government said on Wednesday.

In a statement on national television, government spokesman Ange Maxime Kazagui said the nine “wore headscarves” and did not speak in French or Sango, two languages that are nationally used in the CAR.

One of the journalists vio­­lently opposed the ar­­med men, who wanted to steal their equipment, Kaz­agui said. One of the journalists died instantly and the two others died of their wounds, he said. These details come from their driver, who was wounded but survived, he added.

The three are Kirill Radchenko, Alexander Rastorguyev and Orkhan Dzhemal, the Russian foreign minister confirmed earlier.

A Russian investigative media organisation said the trio had been working with it in a probe into the so-called Wagner Group — described as Moscow’s shadow army in hotspots such as Syria and Ukraine.

“On Friday, July 27 [they] flew to the Central African Republic to shoot material on the activities of PMC Wagner in the cou­ntry as part of a joint project with the Inves­ti­ga­tions Management Cen­tre,” the centre wrote on its Face­book page late Tuesday.

The Investigations Man­a­­g­ement Centre is a media project launched by exiled former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who spent a decade in jail in Russia after falling foul of the Kremlin and now lives in Britain.

Analysts say Moscow uses Wagner, a private company, in order to play down military activity in countries such as Syria and Ukraine and discount casualties.

The killings took place on Monday north of the central town of Sibut, lo­­c­a­ted on the main highway between Kaga Bandora and the capital Bangui, a MINUSCA source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2018