New attack in Ivory Coast: 41 people and 61 injured

The United Nations says machete-wielding attackers have killed at least 41 people and injured 61 others in a western Ivory Coast village.

The U.N. Operation in &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/main/2002/09/27/37362.html ' target=_blank>Ivory Coast, known as UNOCI, said the unknown assailants staged the attack on Guetrozon village between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, forcing "many people" to flee in fear of reprisals to the nearby town of Duekoue, about 300 miles west of the West Africa nation's commercial capital, Abidjan.

UNOCI said it has reinforced its troops in the area to help the Ivorian Security and Defense Forces to stabilize the situation. The world`s leading cocoa-growing nation has been split between the rebel-held norths and army-controlled south since an attempted coup in 2002 with stability further eroded by irregular ethnic clashes, tells the Washington Times.

According to the Bloomberg, today`s attack occurred near the Liberian border, about 400 kilometers from Abidjan, just outside a "no weapons" buffer zone between the rebel controlled-north and government- controlled south that is patrolled by some 6,000 UN peace-keepers and 4,000 French soldiers.

The UN is assisting the government of President &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/main/2002/09/27/37362.html ' target=_blank>Laurent Gbagbo in gaining control over the area by increasing its patrols, Boismoreau said, adding that the government has deployed paramilitary police reinforcements.