Liberia shuts border with Ivory Coast after deadly attack

By AFP

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast militiamen pose at the border with Liberia in 2011. By Philippe Desmazes AFPFile

JUN 9, 2012 LISTEN

Ivory Coast militiamen pose at the border with Liberia in 2011. By Philippe Desmazes (AFP/File)

MONROVIA (AFP) - Liberia on Saturday closed its border with Ivory Coast, a day after seven UN peacekeepers and eight civilians were killed during raids in Ivorian villages near the frontier.

"The government has decided the immediate closure of its border with Ivory Coast," Liberian Information Minister Lewis Brown said at a press conference.

The peacekeepers were killed along with one Ivorian soldier while patrolling an area between two villages after hearing rumours of an imminent attack on communities there.

The raids on several villages near the southwest town of Tai, close to the Liberian border also sent thousands fleeing, UN spokeswoman Anouk Desgroseilliers told AFP.

The latest raids came just days after a Human Rights Watch report blamed recent attacks in southwest Ivory Coast on fighters loyal to the country's former president Laurent Gbagbo.

The Ivorian government has in turn accused the attackers of "coming from Liberia."