Abidjan bloodshed blamed on rebels linked to Gbagbo

Published on 08/08/2012 00:00

Fighters loyal to Ivory Coast’s former president Laurent Gbagbo were behind a series of attacks that killed ten soldiers in the commercial capital Abidjan since Sunday, the interior minister claimed yesterday.

The attacks on military and police targets have heightened fears of renewed instability in the West African nation as it emerges from a decade of turmoil that ended last year in a brief civil war.

“[The assailants] were part of a network of pro-Gbagbo militias and soldiers,” Hamed Bakayoko said. “We have proof … the confessions of those we arrested with weapons and ammunition near the scene of the attack.”

Gunmen opened fire on a police station in Abidjan and a nearby military roadblock early on Sunday, killing five soldiers. Five others died when heavily armed fighters launched a raid on a military camp in the east of the city a day later.

The defence ministry said the attacks, which follow a series of cross-border raids by militants based in Liberia, aimed to “unsettle the people and investors.”