Troops backing the internationally recognised president of Ivory Coast have been rebuffed in attempts to oust the country’s incumbent leader.
Alassane Ouattara’s forces launched an assault on the home of Laurent Gbagbo, who refuses to stand down as president.
After hours of fighting, Ouattara’s men pulled back in the face of heavy fire from within Gbagbo’s residence.
Gbagbo insists he won November’s run-off vote, but election officials found Ouattara was the winner.
That result was certified by the UN, but Gbagbo has refused to leave office.
Gbagbo and his family are believed to be sheltering in the bunker of his residence, in an upmarket area of Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s main city.
He says Ouattara’s troops want to kill him, while they say they have strict orders to capture him alive.
Speaking by phone to French radio and sounding defiant, Gbagbo denied he was hiding in a bunker.
“I am in the residence – the residence of the president of the republic. When it rains, can’t one take shelter inside one’s house?”
Gbagbo had earlier denied he was surrendering, saying he was only negotiating a truce. (BBC)
