20110428
presstv
The leader of a militia group that helped Ivory Coast's new president to topple his rival Laurent Gbagbo has been killed after he and his men refused to obey a presidential order to disarm.

President Alassane Ouattara, who took over the reins of the government after Gbagbo's April 11 arrest, had urged Ibrabim Coulibaly last Friday to lay down weapons or be disarmed by force in an effort to restore stability to the world's top cocoa producer.

But Coulibaly defied the orders and went into hiding in Abidjan's northern Abobo district.

When mediation talks between Coulibaly and Ouattara's camp failed, Coulibaly took a whole family hostage.

“The Republican Guards or the Forces Republicaines de Cote d'Ivoire (FRCI) fired two warning shots and he responded with heavy fire. The FRCI had no other choice but to respond and the response was fatal for him,” AFP quoted Defense Ministry spokesman Leon Alla Kouakou as saying.

“I can confirm that Ibrahim Coulibaly was killed during fighting today,” Kouakou said and added that two government troops and six militiamen were also killed in the shootout.

Earlier, Coulibaly said his forces were resisting the raid and pledged to launch a counter-offensive “at the right time,” adding that he was at a safe place from where he was commanding operations.

The new administration in Ivory Coast is struggling to restore stability in the West African country emerging from a bitter and at times violent post-election crisis that ended with Gbagbo's capture.