The UN Security Council on Wednesday demanded armed groups in the Central African Republic immediately halt fighting and join peace talks after UN airstrikes targeted rebel fighters.

UN attack helicopters opened fire over the weekend on gunmen advancing on the central city of Bambari.

UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous told the council there were about 300 fighters moving towards the city in pickup trucks mounted with machine guns.

He said it remained unclear how many fighters were killed in the airstrikes, which destroyed at least four of the seven pickup trucks.

Following a meeting, the council "urged the armed groups to immediately halt the fighting and join the peace and reconciliation dialogue," said Ukrainian Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko, this month's council president.

The United Nations has deployed 12,000 peacekeepers to the Central African Republic to help restore stability following a war in 2013 that erupted after the overthrow of leader Francois Bozize.

The council "took note of the fragility of the security situation in the CAR due to the ongoing activities of armed groups" and the dire humanitarian crisis in the country, said Yelchenko.

Ladsous told reporters that France was deploying surveillance drones to the country to step up monitoring of the armed groups and help deter attacks.

Separatists claim to have killed Angolan soldiers
Luanda (AFP) Feb 15, 2017 - Separatists in an exclave on Africa's west coast ruled by Angola on Wednesday claimed to have killed several Angolan troops in a flare-up of a long-running territorial dispute.

The fighters are seeking independence for the oil-rich territory known as Cabinda which is sandwiched between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Congo-Brazzaville, with the Atlantic ocean to the west. It is not linked to mainland Angola.

"Nine soldiers of the Angolan armed forces were killed in combat Tuesday," said Jean-Claude Nzita, spokesman for the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda-Armed Forces of Cabinda (FLEC-FAC) separatist group.

Two of the group's fighters were also killed in the clashes, he added.

An Angolan army source, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, said that five soldiers had been killed by "guerilla action".

Nzita also claimed that separatist forces had killed 18 Angolan soldiers in recent weeks although this was not confirmed by Luanda.

Cabinda produces 60 percent of Angola's oil output, helping to make the country Africa's second largest producer after Nigeria.

Despite its vast natural riches, most of Cabinda's 400,000 people live in poverty and human rights groups regularly accuse authorities of abuses.

There have been regular clashes between Angolan authorities and separatists since Luanda annexed the former Portuguese territory after it received independence.

Despite a peace deal signed in 2006 with one branch of the Cabinda separatists, many fighters have never given up the fight against Angola.

The separatists last came to international attention when they attacked a bus carrying the Togolese football team during the Africa Cup of Nations in 2010 as it traversed Cabinda, killing two people.