Ivory Coast's new government forces attempted Wednesday to dislodge diehard militia of deposed strongman Laurent Gbagbo in Abidjan, causing hundreds of residents to flee amid heavy gunfire.
Explosions reverberated across the city as President Alassane Ouattara's forces pounded the northwestern Yopougon district, a stronghold of Gbagbo fighters who have refused to disarm nine days after he was arrested.
Hundreds of frightened residents fled the district across Abidjan's lagoon in small boats packed with suitcases and household items, heading to the safer areas of Plateau and Treichville, an AFP correspondent said.
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"Since 4:00 am (0400 GMT) we have been hearing heavy firing and loud explosions. We were forced to flee the neighbourhood very early," a Yopougon resident told AFP.
"An FRCI soldier told us that they had come to dislodge pro-Gbagbo's Liberian militia who are still hiding in Yopougon," said another resident, using the acronym for Ouattara's forces.
The firing subsided later in the day and the government troops did not venture inside Yopougon. However, more shooting erupted later in the northern Abobo district where former coup-plotter Ibrahim Coulibaly is holed up.
Coluibaly led a failed coup against Gbagbo in 2002.
"We heard exchanges of rifle and machinegun fire after 6:00 pm. It lasted between 15 and 30 minutes. There is noboby on the streets. People have returned to their homes," a resident said.
Government forces have taken control of Abidjan since Gbagbo's April 11 arrest and are trying to secure the city for the new adminstration to fully exert authority and return normalcy to the strife-torn country.
But armed groups in Yopougon are still challenging the new authorities.
