800 dead in Ivory Coast

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said at least 800 people were killed on Tuesday during fighting in the western city of Duekoue. But the Catholic charity Caritas claims more than 1,000 people have been killed in the same town.

The country has been wracked by bloody fighting since incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down after losing an election in November last year. Alassane Ouattara is recognised as having won the poll by the international community and has backed his claim to power with force.

Over the past four months, clashes between the two sides have claimed hundreds of lives, displaced a million people and turned the country's biggest city, Abidjan, into a war zone.