Rebels Kill 2 French Troops
Ivory Coast rebels killed two French soldiers and wounded a third in a firefight, inflicting the first French combat fatalities since Paris sent troops to restore peace in its former colony last year, officials said.
French military officials said 15 to 20 apparently drunk fighters from the rebel New Forces attacked a patrol of about 25 French soldiers Monday afternoon by Lake Kossou, near the West African state’s central town of Sakassou.
The battle occurred in a demilitarized zone where neither government nor rebel troops are supposed to have guns.
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