Seven die in attack on TV station

Seven people were killed when armed men attacked military police at the Ivory Coast state television headquarters in Abidjan early today, the French military said.

A journalist at the building called the attack an attempt to take control of state TV. The journalist called the exchange of gunfire “very deadly.”

Military police guarding the station put down the attack, he said.

The French military in the former French colony confirmed the assault.

“A group of armed young men tried to attack some military police,” said Lt Col Georges Peillon, spokesman for the French army based in the former French colony.

Peillon said he had reports of seven dead.

A group of armed soldiers stormed the station on on November 30, holding it briefly and broadcasting a message calling for renewed attacks on rebels, who hold the northern half of the country.

Ivory Coast, once one of West Africa’s most stable and prosperous nations, has seen repeated coup attempts and other violence since a 1999 coup.