United Nations peacekeepers and national security forces on Wednesday regained control of the Central African Republic's fourth-largest town, which had been captured by rebels on Tuesday, AFP reports.

Members of a militia called Unity for Peace in Central Africa (UPC) overran Bambari town on Tuesday after a two-hour firefight with MINUSCA, forcing residents to flee.

The AFP report cites the town's mayor to say that civilians had not been attacked, but the police station, gendarmerie and some homes had been ransacked.

Following the recapture of the town however, the UN said the residents had begun returning to their homes and that calm was returning.

"The situation in Bambari is under control," AFP quotes Abdoulaziz Fall, the spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSCA.

"The civilians are starting to return. The armed groups have been pushed back into the bush."

The C.A.R. has been plagued by conflict for years, and is considered one of the most unstable countries in the world.

Tuesday's bambari attack came just days before the country holds its presidential and legislative elections.

17 presidential candidates are registered to run in the December polls, including incumbent Faustin-Archange Touadera.