ABIDJAN – At least two civilians were shot dead after lengthy bursts of gunfire were heard in a tense neighbourhood of Ivory Coast’s crisis-stricken commercial capital Abidjan, an AFP journalist reported. The bullet-riddled bodies of two men were seen lying face-down on the streets of Abidjan’s Abobo neighbourhood, a bastion of the country’s internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara. Residents told AFP that two members of incumbent strongman Laurent Gbagbo’s Defence and Security Forces (FDS) had also been killed, although this was not immediately possible to verify.
Gbagbo’s “Street General” Charles Ble Goude, head of the hardline Young Patriots, was due to address a rally in the neighbourhood on Tuesday afternoon. An FDS member as well as local youths told AFP that there had been exchanges of fire between the FDS and inhabitants. People living in the northern Abidjan neighbourhood said that security forces had entered the district early Tuesday and gone into people’s homes saying they were searching for weapons.
Around 10 FDS vehicles, including armoured personnel carriers, could still be seen in the neighbourhood and sporadic gunfire heard around midday. FDS forces have been besieging Ouattara’s camp at an Abidjan hotel for weeks during a tense crisis that has seen at least 200 people killed, according to the United Nations.
