Forces loyal to Ivory Coast incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo have stepped up a counter-attack on presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara by firing on his hotel headquarters in Abidjan.
Rebel forces seeking to install Mr Ouattara, who won an election last November according to results certified by the United Nations, swept from the north to the economic capital Abidjan almost unopposed more than a week ago.
But despite a fierce rebel onslaught, Mr Gbagbo's soldiers have held onto swathes of the city, and are now growing bolder.
A UN spokesman in Abidjan said yesterday's attack on the Golf Hotel, which Mr Ouattara has made his base since the election, involved heavy weapons that appeared to have been fired from Mr Gbagbo's heavily defended residence.
"This was not a fight, but a direct attack by Gbagbo's forces, who fired RPGs and mortar rounds, from positions near Gbagbo's residence, at the Golf Hotel," said UN spokesman Hamadoun Toure.
He said one UN peacekeeper had been hurt, and that UN forces had responded by firing on those positions.
Mariam Konate, a resident of the area near the hotel, said: "There was fierce fighting with heavy weapons and our houses shook, even some windows shattered. We're all locked in our homes, but things quietened down about an hour ago."
French soldiers supporting the UN mission in Ivory Coast and backing Mr Ouattara's claim to the presidency secured Abidjan's port yesterday, but said the central neighbourhoods of Cocody and Plateau were still being fought over.
"They (Mr Gbagbo's forces) won some positions overnight that they lost again this morning," said Frederick Daguillon, spokesman for the French force in Ivory Coast, Licorne. He said Mr Gbagbo's fighters "have become more confident".
French helicopters clashed with Mr Gbagbo's defenders early yesterday during a failed attempt to rescue diplomatic staff trapped by the fighting in Cocody. British and other diplomats were later evacuated, a British foreign office spokesman said.
The BBC said bullets had hit the British embassy and a mortar round had landed in the garden.
Reuters