Fighters loyal to Alassane Ouattara have surrounded the presidential palace in Ivory Coast with the help of UN and French helicopters, as incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo's grip on power appeared increasingly tenuous.
Ouattara's forces have described the assault on the main city of Abidjan as the final offensive to oust Gbagbo, whose refusal to acknowledge his rival as the legitimate winner of last year's presidential election, prompted a violent conflict.
Sustained machine-gun and heavy weapons fire rang out from the direction of the palace before dawn, in the heaviest fighting since Ouattara's forces entered the city five days ago.
Troops surrounding Gbagbo's home are waiting for him to step down, an adviser to Ouattara told Associated Press.
This article includes content provided by Spotify. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'.
The assault came after UN helicopters carried out a string of attacks on Gbagbo's forces on Monday, destroying their weapons at four locations where they had been shelling civilians, a UN spokesman said.
The helicopters fired four missiles at a Gbagbo military camp in Abidjan, witnesses told Reuters. "We saw two UN MI-24 helicopters fire missiles on the Akouedo military camp. There was a massive explosion and we can still see the smoke," one said.
The assault on Akouedo – which is host to three battallions of the Ivorian army – was captured in a video posted on YouTube.
Hamadoun Toure, spokesman for the UN mission in Ivory Coast, said in an email: "We launched an operation to neutralise heavy weapons that Gbagbo's special forces have been using against the civilian population for the last three months. We destroyed them in four locations."
The office of the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, said French troops had been authorised to participate in the UN attack after a request for help from the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon. The UN security council is meeting to discuss the situation.
Toussaint Alain, a Paris-based spokesman for Gbagbo, called the air strikes "illegal, illegitimate and unacceptable" and said they will have resulted in many casualties among families living at the military barracks. "France has gone to war against Ivory Coast," he added.
Separately, the French foreign ministry said two French nationals and several others had been abducted in Abidjan. France's Europe 1 radio station reported five people had been abducted from a hotel in the city's business district. Jean Fouquiere, a spokesman for the French Embassy in Ivory Coast, said: "I confirm that five people have been kidnapped at Novotel Hotel, including two French nationals and a man from Benin."
Ivory Coast was a French colony until independence in 1960. France still has about 12,000 citizens, and 1,650 troops in the country.
The UN evacuated 170 civilian staff from Abidjan at the weekend. "We are fast approaching a tipping point," Choi Young-jin, the UN's top diplomat in Ivory Coast, told the BBC. "We can no longer condone their [Mr Gbagbo's forces'] reckless and mindless attacks on civilians and the UN blue helmets [troops] with heavy weapons."
Choi, whose own office has been hit by sniper fire, added: "We are now in a way under siege, so we cannot go out freely, [they're] targeting us with snipers, it's a deliberate shoot at the UN. For the last few days we've had 11 [peacekeepers] wounded by their gunshots ... They are targeting the HQ, they cut off the water … and we are now in the bunker."
In all, 20 peacekeepers have been injured since the crisis triggered by last November's disputed election. Choi said the UN's 9,000 troops did not have a mandate to dislodge Gbagbo, but could respond to heavy weapons attacks against the UN or civilians.
Pro-Oauttara troops entered Abidjan yesterday in a convoy of several dozen vehicles - the first elements of a large force massed on the northern outskirts for what they called a "final assault".
Heavy machine-gun fire and a few explosions could be heard minutes after troops entered the city limits.
The commanding officer told Reuters he had 4,000 men with him, plus 5,000 already in the city. Asked how long he would need to take Abidjan, Issiaka "Wattao" Ouattara said: "We know when it starts, but it could take 48 hours to properly clean [the city]."
. Despite mass defections, Gbagbo has surprised many observers by fighting back, issuing a call to arms to his supporters, who went to his residence on Sunday to form a human shield.
Gbagbo's spokesman in London, Abdon George Bayeto, told the BBC there was an international plot against the incumbent. "When it comes to a fight, we are going to put up a fight," he said. "The president is not going to step down."
Away from the fighting, UN investigators found a mass grave containing nearly 200 bodies, UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said on Monday.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Saturday at least 800 people were killed in intercommunal violence in Duekoue last week.