BANGUI, (Central African Republic): A military convoy struck a roadside bomb in the northwest of the conflict-wracked Central African Republic, leaving two policemen and three Russian paramilitaries dead, the government said Sunday.

Tensions have been high in the country of 4.7 million since a December presidential election, although a recent surge in violence is just the latest in a civil war that has lasted since the ouster of president Francois Bozize in 2013. “Three Russian allies and two Central African police officers were killed,” government spokesman Ange Maxime Kazagui told AFP, while UN sources said the attack Thursday also wounded five members of the Central African security forces.

They said the convoy was blown up on the road between Berberati and Bouar, more than 400 kilometres (250 miles) from the capital Bangui. A Russian helicopter was sent to the scene to recover the victims’ bodies and the wounded, the sources said.