Fighting in the Central African capital Bangui with six Chadian peacekeepers killed 2712131

The French armoured vehicles took positions at the entrance to the airport, where French and African peacekeepers are based, after automatic weapons fire and explosions shook several parts of the city.

The gunfire subsided as night fell, giving way to a tense calm in the capital in which residents are grappling with increasingly unreliable electricity and telephone connections.

Automatic weapons fire, much of it from heavy machine guns, was heard but apparently not directed at the airport.

The head of the Burundian contingent in the African MISCA force told AFP his men were disarming former rebels on Monday when Chadian troops from MISCA threw a grenade and opened fire on them, prompting some Burundian elements to return fire, wounding three Chadians.

On Monday, Chadian soldiers had opened fire on hundreds of stone-throwing protesters, mostly Christians, killing one man and wounding around 40 others, three seriously.

Traditionally influential in the Central African Republic, neighbouring Chad is France's main partner in its efforts to re-establish peace in the country. It contributes 850 troops to the 3,700-strong MISCA force.

But the growing defiance of Central Africans toward the Chadian contingent is complicating the task of the 1,600 French troops deployed to the country since the beginning of December.