DAKAR (Reuters) - Unidentified assailants killed a UNICEF employee and five other education workers in an attack in the Central African Republic, the United Nations children’s agency said on Wednesday.

The attack took place on Sunday as the group was traveling to the northeastern town of Markounda, located in a remote region near the Chadian border, where they were to train local teachers.

All those killed were Central African citizens and included a UNICEF education consultant, two education ministry officials and three members of a local UNICEF partner organization.

“We strongly condemn this senseless act against aid workers who were there to improve the lives of the most vulnerable populations,” UNICEF’s West and Central Africa Regional Director Marie-Pierre Poirier said in a statement.

UNICEF did not say who carried out the attack but militia violence in the Central African Republic has intensified over the past year, making it one of the world’s deadliest countries for humanitarian workers.

Unknown assailants killed six Red Cross volunteers in the southeast last August, barely a month after another worker was shot dead by an unidentified armed group in the town of Bangassou.