Ivory Coast: Journalists, locals come under fire as fighting continues

Abidjan: A group of journalists travelling in a convoy of three vehicles was shot at as they arrived in Agboville, close to the Ivory Coast capital Abidjan on Sunday.

The journalists, said to be French, did not want to interviewed or identified, but one of the drivers - Ahmed Yoda - said there had been "lots of gunfire."

"The bullets started coming in our direction and hit the car, he said.

"They destroyed our transmission equipment and one of us was injured."

Windows on his car were shattered by the gunfire.  A minibus in the convoy was also damaged, with broken windows and bullet holes visible.

"We do not know who was firing at us," Yoda said.

"They were scared and did not know who was in our car, but as we went by they just started shooting and there is no way of knowing who exactly it was."

The United Nations mission in Ivory Coast began moving some 200 employees out of the Abidjan on Sunday after repeated attacks on its headquarters, as fighters loyal to the internationally recognised president prepared for a battle to oust the incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo.

Sporadic gunfire rang out on Sunday and residents for the most part kept in their homes.  Those few who did venture onto the streets walked with their hands in the air to show they were unarmed.

Residents of the commercial capital have been restricted to their homes since forces supporting internationally recognised President Alassane Ouattara began their assault of Abidjan on Thursday.

Electricity has been cut intermittently and the water was shut off citywide on Sunday morning, though a few women could be seen on the street filling basins with water from the lagoon.

Ouattara's camp reports that the vast majority of the military has defected to his side, leaving only a small contingent of fighters to defend Gbagbo.
Thousands of pro-Ouattara troops amassed on the city's northern edge on Sunday.