Gunmen attack army base in Cote d’Ivoire

Over a 100 prison inmates were set free on Thursday, after an overnight attack was launched by gunmen in an army base, a police station and a prison near Abidjan in Cote d’Ivoire.

A representative from the Republican Forces of Cote d’Ivoire (FRCI) said our positions were attacked at Dabou on the corridor leading into the town.”

“But the situation is under control,our men pushed back the attack.

Reports say that two police headquarters and the towns’ prison were under attack while a representative from the parliament Mohammed Sess Soukou said over a 100 prison inmates escaped.

He also added “The prison was smashed, all the prisoners got out, some have been recaptured but many have fled,” Sess Sekou told journalists, adding that out of about 150 inmates who escaped, just 50 had been caught.

However, prison governor, Adjoua Ouattara, said that there were 119 inmates in the jail before the attack, but was unable to give the number who had been recaptured.

A resident of Dabou , 50 kilometers from Abidjan said as at Wednesday he had been hearing heavy gunfire.

Other residents gave similar accounts, but said the heavy shooting in the morning gave way to sporadic gunfire, mostly near some strongholds of the security forces.

“We can still hear some shooting, but it is far away and no longer steady,” a resident of the town Centre said
Later that Wednesday FRCI reinforcements were deployed and residents began to return to the streets.

The local police commissioner said two gunmen were killed, about a dozen were arrested and that there were no army fatalities.

The attacks in and around Abidjan have sparked a sharp rise in tension more than a year after the post-electoral crisis of December 2010 to April 2011 claimed 3,000 lives.