An aircraft flew in from a neighbouring country overnight and bombed Central African Republic (CAR) troops and their Russian paramilitary allies, but caused only material damage, the government said Monday. The plane targeted a defence forces base and a cotton factory and “dropped explosives on the town” of Bossangoa, in the north, the CAR government said in a statement. The aircraft flew back out of CAR after the raid, the statement said. “The explosives caused major material damage,” the government said. “This plane, after committing these crimes … headed north … before crossing our border.” Chad lies north of Bossangoa, a town which was in rebel hands until recently. The CAR is one of the poorest and most unstable countries in the world, experiencing rare moments of peace since it became independent from France in 1960. It plunged into bloody civil conflict in 2012 that was eased by an intervention by the former colonial power France, and the deployment of a UN peacekeeping mission. In 2020, a coalition of rebels advanced on the capital Bangui, threatening to oust the government. Russia dispatched paramilitaries to help repel the threat and then recover much of the rebel-held territory. The operatives are described by Bangui as military advisers but by France, the UN and others as mercenaries from the Kremlin-backed Wagner group.