Rebels claim to have seized Ivory Coast town

ABIDJAN, (Ivory Coast), Mar 7 (AP): Rebels in Ivory Coast claim to have seized a town after a fierce battle in the country's volatile west near the border with Liberia, panicking tens of thousands of refugees who already had fled violence over a deepening political crisis. The New Forces rebels said in a statement on their website that they seized Toulepleu on Sunday. The statement said: "The large town of Toulepleu in the west of Ivory Coast is now in the hands of the army of the New Forces (rebels) since Sunday at noon following an intense combat." The town near Liberia's border was the scene of heavy fighting on Sunday between forces backing the political rivals who both claim to be Ivory Coast's president. The rebels are backed by the U.N.-recognized president, Alassane Ouattara. Government forces are allied with former president Laurent Gbagbo, who is refusing to leave office. Saah Nyuma, the deputy director of the Liberia Refugee Repatriation and Resettlement Commission, said he heard the sounds of explosions coming from Ivory Coast. At least one mortar shell fell on the Liberian side of the border on Sunday. Analysts fear that Ivory Coast's political crisis following a disputed presidential election will spill over into full-blown civil war.