5 soldiers killed in attacks on police stations in Ivory Coast capital, official says
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast – An Ivory Coast official says five soldiers have been killed in attacks on police stations in the capital.
Defence ministry spokesman Allah Kouakou Leon says a number of armed men wearing military uniforms stormed two police stations in the district of Yopougon in Abidjan early Sunday. Three soldiers died in the first attack and two in the second.
Yopougon was a flashpoint of violence during the crisis that followed Ivory Coast’s November 2010 presidential election, when incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo refused to concede defeat to current President Alassane Ouattara. Residents in the neighbourhood voted overwhelmingly for Gbagbo and held out for weeks after his arrest.
Since Gbagbo’s arrest in April 2011, soldiers have assumed policing duties throughout much of the country. A national effort to disarm ex-combatants has yet to get off the ground.
No arrests have been made in connection with Sunday’s attacks.
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