Six civilians were killed and several wounded Saturday by rebels in a village in the northeast of the perennially volatile Central African Republic, the UN peacepeeking mission said.

"This morning at dawn elements from the 3R (Return, Reclamation, Rehabilitation) launched a large-scale attack against C.African army positions in the village of Mann," the spokesman for the MINUSCA mission said, adding: "Six civilians were killed and several wounded."

The village is about 550 kilometres (340 miles) from the capital Bangui, Lieutenant Colonel Abdoulaziz Fall told AFP.