Soldiers patrol Ivory Coast road near Liberia following deadly attack on UN peacekeepers

Ivory Coast's soldiers patrol on the road where UN soldiers were killed last week, following an attack in the southwest, close to the border with Liberia in Para on June 17. Seven Niger troops, 10 civilians and at least one Ivorian soldier were killed in the June 8 attack while patrolling villages south of the small town of Tai, near the Liberian border, the worst attack on ONUCI since its 2004 deployment. The zone has been prone to unrest for the past year, with bloody operations blamed in a recent report by Human Rights Watch on forces loyal to former president Laurent Gbagbo, whom the New York-based non-governmental organization accused of recruiting child soldiers.

The population of Tai collect water distributed by the United Nations peacekeepers in western Ivory Coast near the border with Liberia on June 18. The area has been hit by a series of attacks in recent weeks, killing at least 22 people, including seven United Nations peacekeepers. Ivory Coast has said the attacks were carried out by Liberian mercenaries and pro-former president Laurent Gbagbo Ivorian militias who crossed over from Liberia.