Rebels denied army claims Thursday that fighting had broken out again in central Ivory Coast, saying the government was seeking excuses to relaunch the 5-month-old civil war. The army alleged fighting Wednesday in Zuenoula, a town west of Bouake, the stronghold of northern rebels. Ivorian army spokesman Lt. Col. Jules Yao Yao accused the rebels of attacking loyalist forces with shoulder-fired rockets, mortars, and rifles. He said a dozen loyalist soldiers had been injured, three seriously. News reports also carried dispatches of deadly fighting that began with a rebel attack. Rebel leader Guillaume Soro denied the reports of renewed fighting. “We have not moved along the cease-fire line,” he said at rebel headquarters in Bouake. Rebel commander Zacharia Kone, in the central town of Vavua, called the claims a “a plot started” by Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo “so that they could try to attack us.” Full Story
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