UN says 8 civilians killed in Ivory Coast attack

A United Nations official says eight civilians were killed in Ivory Coast in an attack that also killed seven peacekeepers.

Carlos Geha, deputy head of the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said today the agency had sent a mission to Tai to investigate yesterday's attack, but details were not yet available. Geha said "from my understanding, it was the same ambush," as the one that killed peacekeepers.

The UN said yesterday that seven UN peacekeepers were killed in an attack in Ivory Coast near the Liberian border. The UN said the seven peacekeepers who lost their lives were from Niger.

The United Nations has had a peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast since 2004.

At the end of April, the UN said there were about 9,400 peacekeeping troops, 200 military observers and 1,350 international police in the mission along with civilian staff. Over 40 countries are contributing military personnel.

AP