YAOUNDE - Less than 48 hours after the murder of three Chinese nationals in the Central African Republic (CAR), three major suspects were arrested on Saturday, the Chinese Embassy in the country confirmed Saturday night, according to news reaching here from Bangui.

In a meeting with Chen Dong, the Chinese ambassador to the CAR, the country's Interior Minister Henri Wanzet Linguissara said that the trio were arrested on Saturday, and another search operation would begin Saturday night.

A judicial investigation will be opened soon, he said.

The speaker of the CAR's National Assembly Abdoul Karim Meckassoua also visited the Chinese embassy on Saturday. He strongly condemned the atrocities of the perpetrators, and offered his condolences to the families of the victims.

The Chinese ambassador reassured Meckassoua that China-Africa friendly cooperation is the trend of history, and that no one can stop the solid steps by both China and Africa to build a community of a shared future.

CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadera and Prime Minister Simplice Mathieu Sarandji, who met Chen earlier after the deadly attack, also condemned the violent acts.

A boat carrying four Chinese and a local young man capsized Thursday in the town of Sosso-Nakombo, leaving the local passenger missing.

Touadera and Sarandji both condemned the brutality of the perpetrators, expressing their condolences to the families of the victims.

The four Chinese survivors then went to a gendarmerie brigade to report the incident. At that moment, a group of attackers, who were informed of the disappearance of their fellow countrymen, came for the Chinese, killing three of them and seriously wounding a fourth one.

At the request of the Chinese embassy, security forces reinforcements were deployed in Sosso-Nakombo, said Wanzet, adding that the 58 Chinese found in the area were evacuated by police to a safer neighboring town.

With the help of the Chinese embassy, the injured person was sent to the capital Bangui on Friday and later moved to Kampala of Uganda via United Nations aircraft.