Cote d'Ivoire's Troops Wage Assault on Mutineers

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, September 23, 2002

Cote d'Ivoire's Troops Wage Assault on Mutineers

The government troops of Cote d' Ivoire Sunday staged an assault on rebel soldiers in Bouake, strategic central city 400 km north of Abidjan.

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The government troops of Cote d' Ivoire Sunday staged an assault on rebel soldiers in Bouake, strategic central city 400 km north of Abidjan.

Local radio reported that heavy shooting erupted Sunday evening in the country's second largest city with heavy weapons and automatic arms firing.

The loyalist troops on Sunday morning completed encirclement of the rebel-held town as the rebel soldiers called for the talks with the government aimed at avoiding what the mutineers termed a bloodbath in the country.

Bouake and Korhogo, the key northern city en route to the border with Burkina Faso, have been in rebel hands since the breakout of bloody coup last Thursday, while other important towns heading north are also under rebel control.

Rebel troops also attacked the northern town of Pogo, on the border with Mali, on Sunday.

Prime Minister Pascal Affi N'Guessan Saturday called on rebel soldiers to surrender, saying that the government "is ready to examine the situation of the mutineers" if they lay down their arms.

"It's up to them to choose which side they are on, that of destruction, or the Republic," he said.

Cote d' Ivoire has seen three days of fighting in what President Laurent Gbagbo's government is describing as a failed coup by mutinous troops.

The failed coup attempt has claimed some 270 lives and left 300injured in Abidjan. Former military ruler General Robert Guei, who was accused of being behind the coup, and Interior Minister Emile Boga Doudou were confirmed killed during the bloodshed.

Cote d'Ivoire is the world's top cocoa producer with the yield of about 1 million tons every year, accounting for 30 percent of the world's cocoa output.

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