ABIJAN - Seven UN peacekeepers from Niger have been killed in an ambush in southwestern Ivory Coast, the UN has said. UN officials said that the attack took place near the border with Liberia.
There have several raids close to the border recently, blamed on supporters of ex-President Laurent Gbagbo.
UN peacekeepers were deployed to Ivory Coast in 2004 to help
end the country's civil war and have stayed through the country's recent
political crisis.
It is the first attack of its kind in the country, a UN spokesman told Agence France Presse (AFP).
'Reinforcements'
The peacekeepers were patrolling in an area between the
villages of Tai and Para after hearing rumours of an imminent attack on
communities in the region, UN officials said.
The area has seen a number of cross-border attacks over
recent months, blamed on Liberian mercenaries and Ivorian militia
fighters who fled Ivory Coast following the arrest of the former
president Laurent Gbagbo last yearr news agencies report.
Earlier this week, campaign group Human Rights Watch
published a report saying militants loyal to Mr Gbagbo based in Liberia
had killed at least 40 people in cross-border raids since last July.
It was not immediately clear who attacked the U.N.
troops or if any Ivorian troops they were patrolling with were harmed.
This attack comes after the world's top cocoa grower is gradually recovering
from months of violence that followed a 2010 election.
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