French troops killed in I. Coast
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French troops are in its former colony to separate warring sides.
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PARIS, France -- Two soldiers have become the first French peacekeepers to be killed in the Ivory Coast, according to military officials.
The men were attacked Monday by Lake Kossou, near the central town of Sakassou, by former rebels who seemed to be drunk, Colonel Christian Battiste, a spokesman for the French army headquarters in Paris, said.
Battiste said a patrol of about 25 French soldiers were chatting to local fishermen when a group of former rebels arrived. They started hurling abuse and then began firing, he added.
"Suddenly they started shooting. We riposted. During the exchange of fire we believe there was one dead and several wounded (among the rebels)," Battiste told Reuters.
Two French soldiers died of their injuries after being hit in the head and chest while a third was hit in the foot, the news agency reported.
A 4,000-strong French force is patrolling a front line in the West African country between the government-held south and the rebel-held north, following a nine-month civil war sparked by a failed coup in September 2002. Thousands died in the clashes.
The soldiers are also protecting French and other foreign citizens living in the former French colony, which is the world's largest cocoa producer.
But Battiste said Monday's battle was an isolated incident and most rebels were cooperating with the peace effort.
