Rocket hits Ivorian premier's plane, three killed

Prime Minister Soro survives plane attack

A plane carrying Ivory Coast Prime Minister Guillaume Soro was attacked
Friday as it landed at an airport in the centre of the country, killing
three people though Soro survived, a top aide told AFP.

By 

Reuters

BOUAKE, Ivory Coast, June 29 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's Prime
Minister Guillaume Soro escaped unhurt when his plane was hit by
a rocket on arrival at the rebel stronghold Bouake on Friday,
but three others were killed, witnesses said.
 

Soro, head of the northern New Forces rebels who seized the
north of the West African country during a brief 2002-2003 civil
war, was named prime minister in April after he signed a peace
deal with President Laurent Gbagbo to guide the country to
long-delayed elections.
 

"In the prime minister's cabin I could see three dead bodies
that I could not identify," Allan Aliali, a journalist for
Gbagbo's party newspaper Notre Voie who was on board the plane,
told U.N. radio.
 

A Reuters reporter later saw Soro arrive unharmed at the
rebels' headquarters in the town, although other members of his
entourage had visible injuries. Rebel reinforcements were seen
deploying immediately to the airport.
 

Soro's aides said the plane came under rocket attack from
unknown assailants.
 

Ivory Coast is the world's top cocoa producer. News of the
attack pushed cocoa futures prices in London and New York to
four-year highs.
 

"France strongly condemns this cowardly attack and reaffirms
its solidarity with the whole Ivory Coast nation and people,"
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in a statement.
 

France, which ruled Ivory Coast until independence in 1960,
has troops stationed in the country helping back up a United
Nations peacekeeping force.

Source:France24