Pro-Gbagbo militia killed 220 people in Ivory Coast: government

ABIDJAN: Militia and mercenaries loyal to Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo killed 220 people in the southwest of the country in unrest following disputed polls, a spokesman for the government of President Alassane Ouattara said on Saturday.

After being chased out of their stronghold in the main city Abidjan on May 4, the fleeing Gbagbo forces committed "atrocities in the southwest of our country," said Patrick Achi.

As they went towards the Liberian border "these killers without faith or law targetted everyone, women, men, children, whom they came across," he said.

The violence left a "a macabre total of 220 people killed and 17 injured," he added.