BANGUI: A Swiss man and a soldier died in an attack north of Bangui, capital of the mineral-rich Central African Republic (CAR), military officials said on Monday.

“A Swiss national who was here to do a mining survey was killed along with his security detail, a non-commissioned officer in the Central African Army,” a high-ranking officer said.

He said “unidentified armed bandits” killed the two men on Thursday about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Bangui. The authorities would launch an investigation, he said.

The Swiss foreign ministry confirmed that one of its citizens had been killed.

The politically unstable CAR has mineral resources including uranium, lithium, diamonds, timber and gold, which are exploited by foreign companies, including from Canada, China, France, Russia, Rwanda and the United States.

Faced with increasing insecurity, President Faustin-Archange Touadera has come increasingly to rely on Russia’s Wagner mercenaries, who benefit in return from lucrative contracts in the gold, diamond and logging industries, the Central Africa Observatory NGO said in June.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2026