Fresh ethnic clashes in Ivory Coast

ABIDJAN – Armed men killed at least 28 people on the outskirts of Ivory Coast’s western cocoa town of Duekoue, shooting and knifing their victims and torching their homes, security officials and witnesses said yesterday.

The attacks happened on the outskirts of Duekoue, a cocoa-rich town at the heart of a region where civil war has exacerbated decades-old ethnic tensions. “We have counted 28 dead.We’re sending the injured to the hospital but we don’t have an exact number of how many there are.It’s awful,” said a police officer in Duekoue, who spoke on condition of anonymity.Those killed yesterday were members of the Guere local tribe and lived in Guitrozon and Petit Duekoue, two villages on the edge of town.Witnesses said homes were smashed and burnt, with petrol canisters lying outside the ruins.”People were sleeping and they were surprised.Armed men poured petrol on the homes.I saw broken and burnt homes,” said Daniel By Smith, a bailiff who spoke to Reuters by telephone from Guitrozon.He said he could see burnt bodies in some homes.An army commander in the capital Yamoussoukro, east of Duekoue, said clashes between rival ethnic groups started at about 2am yesterday morning.”The total toll we have for the region is 29 dead and more than 30 injured, all by bullets or knives.Eighteen were shot or knifed and 11 bodies were burnt,” said the commander, who also declined to be named.It was not immediately clear what triggered the latest attack in the world’s top cocoa grower, which has been divided by civil war since rebels tried to oust the president in September 2002 and seized the north.- Nampa-Reuters”We have counted 28 dead.We’re sending the injured to the hospital but we don’t have an exact number of how many there are.It’s awful,” said a police officer in Duekoue, who spoke on condition of anonymity.Those killed yesterday were members of the Guere local tribe and lived in Guitrozon and Petit Duekoue, two villages on the edge of town.Witnesses said homes were smashed and burnt, with petrol canisters lying outside the ruins.”People were sleeping and they were surprised.Armed men poured petrol on the homes.I saw broken and burnt homes,” said Daniel By Smith, a bailiff who spoke to Reuters by telephone from Guitrozon.He said he could see burnt bodies in some homes.An army commander in the capital Yamoussoukro, east of Duekoue, said clashes between rival ethnic groups started at about 2am yesterday morning.”The total toll we have for the region is 29 dead and more than 30 injured, all by bullets or knives.Eighteen were shot or knifed and 11 bodies were burnt,” said the commander, who also declined to be named.It was not immediately clear what triggered the latest attack in the world’s top cocoa grower, which has been divided by civil war since rebels tried to oust the president in September 2002 and seized the north.- Nampa-Reuters