Ivory Coast - Gunmen Attack Power Station, Security Facilities

Gunmen attacked a power station and security facilities in and around Ivory Coast's commercial capital Abidjan in coordinated overnight raids that ended early on Monday, the defence minister said.

The attacks, the first targeting high-profile infrastructure, came a week after a United Nations report claimed that supporters of former President Laurent Gbagbo had established a base of operations in neighbouring Ghana.

The government of President Alassane Ouattara last month closed the eastern border with Ghana for more than two weeks, claiming raids had been launched from Ghanaian soil.

Defence Minister Paul Koffi Koffi said a group of armed men disarmed guards protecting the Azito thermal power station in Abidjan's Yopougon neighbourhood late on Sunday night and briefly occupied the site.

"Around 30 elements tried to take Azito. They were pushed out and 10 were taken prisoner with their arms. They are now being interrogated," he told reporters.

Koffi Koffi later told state television RTI that two of the gunmen, who included soldiers, were killed and nine were arrested.

"Nine of the people who were arrested at the scene included two policemen, two gendarmes, two marines and two civilian," Koffi Koffi said.