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Military camp attacked in Ivory Coast

ABIDJAN - A major military base to the west of Ivory Coast’s economic capital Abidjan came under attack from unknown forces using heavy weapons early Monday, military sources said.

The attack on an infantry battalion based at the camp was contained within hours, a military source told AFP, adding that assailants had been killed.

“The attackers have been repulsed. The assailants have suffered casualties and some have been taken prisoner,” the source, requesting anonymity, said.

No details of army casualties were given.

The anonymous source said light-arms fire and mortar rounds had been launched at the base around 5:30 am (0530 GMT), and that the battalion based there had responded with light and heavy weapons.

The commander of the Akouedo camp, Lieutenant-Colonel Julien Kouame, told AFP the government forces had come under “heavy fire”.

Another attack launched on a camp in the same area and housing a paratrooper commando unit was also contained, military sources said.

Some sources said the attacks came from renegade members of the Ivorian military.

Heavily armed reinforcements were seen arriving in tanks and all-terrain vehicles at the Akouedo camp later Monday morning, while sources said light gunfire was continuing sporadically.

Road blockades were seen in Abidjan early Monday, and street traffic in the business and administrative district of Plateau was calm.

New Ivory Coast Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny, appointed in December, last week inaugurated a government shared between supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo, his political opponents and rebels who have have held the north of Ivory Coast since September 2002.

The assaults on the bases follows other strikes against government forces.

On December 1 a large police base in Abidjan was attacked by unidentified armed men who were later repulsed.

In July, similar attacks by unidentified assailants on police bases in the north of Abidjan left seven members of the security forces and 17 attackers dead, according to army figures.