In February 10, 2014 file photo, women carrying wood walk past a French military patrol 10 km south of Yaloke, north of Bangui, Central African Republic. China's Foreign Ministry has called for its citizens and enterprises to leave high-risk regions in the Central African Republic after nine Chinese nationals were killed and two were seriously injured in an attack on a Chinese company.
A ministry spokeswoman confirmed the casualties in a statement issued on Monday. The attack took place on Sunday at a local mining site, according to reports.
According to the statement, President Xi Jinping has attached great importance to the incident and instructed that every effort be made to save the lives of the injured and handle the aftermath in a timely and appropriate manner.
The ministry said that the perpetrators should be brought to justice and the safety of Chinese nationals should be ensured.
The Foreign Ministry immediately activated the consular emergency response mechanism and made a diplomatic representation to the Central African Republic's embassy in Beijing.
A working group from the Chinese Embassy in the African nation rushed to the site of the attack to coordinate the response.
The ministry has issued several alerts over the past few months to call on Chinese nationals and companies to leave high risk areas in Africa and elsewhere, with the exception of Bangui being rated as extremely high.
Chinese nationals abroad need to take the alerts seriously and avoid visiting those areas, and those who are already there need to leave at once, the spokesperson said.
China's embassy said on Sunday that there had been a number of vicious security incidents against workers of foreign mining enterprises in the area, and Chinese citizens who are still outside Bangui were asked to evacuate immediately.
In view of the security risks, the embassy warned Chinese institutions and citizens not to travel outside Bangui, and to contact the embassy in case of emergency.
In an attack on a mine run by the Gold Coast Group, armed men killed nine Chinese nationals, 25 kilometers from the town of Bambari on Sunday.