Heavily armed men attacked two military bases in Ivory Coast's economic capital Abidjan on Monday, briefly seizing one before government forces recaptured it and restored control, officials said.
Residents woke to the sound of intense automatic rifle fire and detonations of heavier arms as fighting raged at two camps in the eastern Akouedo district of the lagoon city, the trading hub of the West African country, divided since a 2002 civil war.
Reuters reporters saw seven bodies near the two camps, four wearing civilian clothes and three in military uniform. There were also burned-out vehicles and two prisoners, bloodied with their hands tied.
The government did not immediately say who carried out the attacks, which occurred days after new Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny named a cabinet to advance a UN peace plan for the world's top cocoa grower.
New Force rebels, who have occupied the north of the country since 2002, denied responsibility for the raids, which temporarily disrupted cocoa exports in the southern port city.
"We have nothing to do with this. We think it's a problem among them (on the government side)," said Issiaka Ouattara, who is known as Commandant Wattao and is second in command of the rebels' military forces.
"At around 0500 (GMT) this morning, the two camps at Akouedo were heavily attacked by infiltrators," Ivory Coast army chief General Philippe Mangou said in a broadcast on national radio.
"We can reassure the population that the situation is under control," he added. A spokesman for President Laurent Gbagbo also told Reuters the government was in control.
Military officers said the attackers, armed with automatic rifles, heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, briefly took over the Basa anti-aircraft artillery base, one of two bases at Akouedo.
They were later dislodged by government troops and police backed by armoured vehicles.
Helicopters of the French armed forces, which work with a UN peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast, flew over the area.
"There was fighting around the Akouedo bases and the Ivorian forces have taken the situation in hand. This affair concerns neither the UN nor the (French army) but we remain vigilant," said French military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Luc Cotard.
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