ABIDJAN, (Reuters) – Gunfire and explosions shook Ivory Coast’s main city on Wednesday as forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo pushed back into an area where gunmen backing his presidential rival repelled them a day before.
“There’s firing everywhere. I’m hearing heavy weapons booming all over the place,” said one resident of the Abidjan suburb of Abobo, where up to 15 Gbagbo loyalists were killed in an ambush on Tuesday.
The clashes between Gbagbo’s forces and backers of Alassane Ouattara, following a disputed election in November, threaten to reignite a conflict in the world’s biggest cocoa producer and dash hopes of reuniting a country split by a 2002-3 war.
