Ivory Coast Bombs Rebel-Held City

Government warplanes bombed the largest city of the rebel-held north in wave after wave of attacks Thursday, breaking a more than year-old cease-fire in their civil war.

“We are going to reconquer our territory and reunify Ivory Coast,” Col. Philippe Mangou, a government military chief for operations, said by telephone.

Rebel leader Guillaume Soro, reached after the first attack, called the government offensive a “unilateral ... flagrant violation” of Ivory Coast’s peace deals and complained about what he called the inaction of international peacekeepers. Soro headed back to rebel-held Bouake from nearby Togo, where he had gone for regional consultations on the deteriorating situation in his home country.

“We’ve just been bombed. The war has started again,” rebel military commander Cherif Ousmane said after the first raid jolted residents awake.

The government’s Russian-made Sukhoi jets targeted rebel military and civilian headquarters and in surprise attacks as city residents cowered in their homes.

There was no official word on casualties. The relief group Doctors Without Borders said the raids injured 39 people, 14 of them civilians. The organization said it believed that there had been deaths, but had no details.

The United States condemned the renewed violence, saying that peace violators would face consequences.

The United Nations called the attacks a major violation of the cease-fire and suspended all humanitarian work in Ivory Coast.

About 6,000 U.N. peacekeepers and 4,000 French troops patrol the lines that divide the nation.

Ivory Coast has been split since a September 2002 coup attempt launched the country into civil war. A July 2003 peace deal, brokered under pressure from former colonial ruler France and others, ended major fighting.