[Arab News] A battle between forces for the country's two political rivals involving rocket-propelled grenades left at least 10 coppers dead, an official said Wednesday after some of the heaviest fighting since the disputed election three months ago.Witnesses in the volatile Abobo district of Abidjan described hours of heavy machine gunfire and grenade kabooms Tuesday. At least two civilians also were believed to be killed.
The corpse count could not immediately be confirmed, but one official said at least 10 officers were dead. A senior adviser to internationally recognized winner Alassane Ouattara said that at least 30 troops were killed, while another employee of the mayor's office in Abobo put the corpse count at 40.
The officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Col. Hilaire Gohourou, a military front man for incumbent Laurent Gbagbo's government, denied any knowledge of the incident.
It was the fourth consecutive day of violence in Ivory Coast's commercial capital since Ouattara's Prime Minister Guillaume Soro called for an "Egypt-style" uprising in the country.