A Cameroonian UN peacekeeper was killed and four others injured in a traffic accident in the Central African Republic (CAR), Cameroonian authorities said on Sunday.

The accident occurred on Saturday evening in Boultili, a town about 56 km from Bangui, the Central African capital, as the soldiers patrolled in a UN vehicle, authorities said.

It was not immediately clear what caused the tragedy, but military sources told Xinhua that the vehicle likely lost control and crashed.

The injured were taken to a United Nations medical center for medical treatment.

The soldiers are part of a Cameroonian contingent deployed to join the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in CAR (MINUSCA) which began in 2014 to protect CAR civilians under the United Nations Charter.

MINUSCA had strengthened its operational capacities in CAR to help maintain stability after motley rebel groups threatened to disrupt legislative and presidential elections.