Ivory Coast Fighting Rocks Capital

BBC News reports:

Fighting has intensified in Ivory Coast's main city of Abidjan as forces loyal to the UN-recognised president, Alassane Ouattara, battle those of his rival, the incumbent Laurent Gbagbo.

Heavy artillery fire has been heard as the troops fight for key sites including the presidential palace.

Four UN soldiers were seriously wounded by Mr Gbagbo's forces on Saturday.

Further details have meanwhile emerged about the deaths of as many as 1,000 civilians in the west of the country.

Catholic charity Caritas said they had been shot or hacked to death with machetes in a part of Duekoue, controlled by troops loyal to Mr Ouattara.

Looting

There has been fierce fighting outside the presidential palace, the headquarters of state television and the Agban military base on Saturday, with artillery and machine-gun fire echoing throughout the southern city.

Wounded soldiers loyal to Mr Ouattara were seen being rushed to a hospital outside the city, while confident-looking reinforcements headed the other way.

Special forces troops loyal to Mr Gbagbo fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a UN armoured personnel carrier, seriously wounding four peacekeepers carrying out a humanitarian mission, the UN said.

Earlier, another UN patrol was attacked in the Cocody neighbourhood. Five of the former president's troops were hit in an exchange of fire.

One soldier, accompanied by a dozen members of Mr Gbagbo's Defence and Security Forces (FDS), read a statement on state TV calling for the mobilisation of troops to protect state institutions.

Another announcement called on a pro-Gbagbo youth militia to seize control of the two bridges spanning Abidjan's lagoon, which leads to the peninsula where the presidential palace is located.

Millions of civilians are still trapped by the fighting. Small groups have been seen with hands held high, running for safety along deserted streets.

Khodor, a Lebanese resident of the city, told the BBC that he could hear gunfire and there were looters on the streets.

"We have no food or water," he said. "I'm quite calm now, but there are people in tears, we have no idea what will happen or even what is going on."

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