Rebels controlling the north of Ivory Coast said late on Wednesday government helicopters had attacked their positions in the western region of Vavoua.
Helicopters attacked a rebel position in Pelezi, near Vavoua. The attack left several civilians wounded, three of them seriously, but there were no casualties among the rebels, a rebel source said.
A representative for French forces who have been monitoring an October 17 ceasefire, Lieutenant Colonel Ange-Antoine Leccia, said he was taking the reports of the attack seriously.
”Tomorrow morning we will speak to the soldiers on the ground to see if it is true,” he said.
The MI-24 attack helicopters bought by the Ivorian government since the start of the crisis had been seen in the Daloa region, near Vavoua, for two or three days, a miltiary source said.
Earlier on Wednesday the Ivorian army claimed the rebels had violated a six-week old ceasefire and vowed to retaliate. Army representative Lieutenant Colonel Jules Yao Yao said on state television that rebels riding in about 20 four-wheel-drive vehicles
had ”attacked military positions” near the town of Man.
”The armed forces consider this attack as a step too far and have decided to act immediately,” he added.
The rebels swiftly denied launching an attack and French soldiers said they could find no signs of fighting.
The reports of renewed fighting came as French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin visited the west African country to boost peace efforts, and the main opposition figure was flown out of the country after spending two months under French protection.
De Villepin said Alassane Ouattara had left the home of the French ambassador in Abidjan where he had been sheltered since the start on September 19 of a rebellion that has torn the country in two. – Sapa-AFP