Thousands of civilians in Ivory Coast have fled their homes following a series of attacks on villages close to the Liberian border.


“Hundreds of people have arrived in Tai (border town), and one can imagine that thousands of others are on the road,” UN spokeswoman Anouk Desgroseilliersan said on Sunday.

At least 35 families had crossed the border into Liberia to seek safety there, Desgroseilliersan added.

“It's real panic here. People are taking little bundles and fleeing on foot,” Tai Mayor Desire Gnonkonte told AFP.

The developments come after seven UN peacekeepers and seven more civilians were killed on Friday near the town of Tai in an ambush attributed to fighters loyal to Ivory Coast’s former President Laurent Gbagbo, while on patrol near the border with neighboring Liberia.


Meanwhile, Liberian government decided to close its border with Ivory Coast in the wake of the killing of the UN peacekeepers.

The government had decided on the "immediate closure of its border," Liberian Information Minister Lewis Brown said. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf had ordered soldiers to be deployed on the frontier, he added.

"Individuals found to have participated in cross border attacks will be arrested and extradited to Ivory Coast," Brown said at a press conference.

The attack on UN peacekeepers came after a Human Rights Watch put the finger of blame at the fighters loyal to Gbagbo for the recent series of attacks near Tai.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon denounced the attack, calling on the Ivorian government to “identify the perpetrators” of the offensive.

The UN sent a peacekeeping mission to Ivory Coast in 2004 to help end the country's civil war. The mission stayed in the country through the 2010-2011 post-election crisis, in which more than 3,000 people were killed.

Source: Press TV