3 died trying to save Central African Republic

Mar 07, 2014  BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Mahamat Nour and his two friends knew they had to flee the capital of Central African Republic, where mobs decapitate Muslims in the streets and mutilate their corpses.

They heard of a flight Friday afternoon to neighboring Chad and left their neighborhood for the first time in weeks in a desperate attempt to escape. But when they got to the airport, the flight was full and they were turned away.

Armed security from the airport agreed to take them back home until the next flight. Minutes later, though, Christian militants fired on their vehicle.

"Two of the men made a run for it into the neighborhood while the third man died inside the vehicle," said Abdel Nasser, another Muslim who witnessed the horror from his own car. "They say we Muslims are foreigners. But my great-grandfather was born here. How can you say I am not a Central African?"