Armed political clashes yesterday in Ivory Coast’s commercial capital Abidjan left 10 demonstrators and 10 police and soldiers dead, a spokesman for Laurent Gbagbo’s government said.

“In total, today unfortunately saw 20 people killed, including 10 protesters and 10 members of the security forces, including three burned to death in their building,” said Education Minister Jacqueline Lohoues-Oble.

Earlier, citing witnesses, rights watchdog Amnesty International accused government security forces of shooting dead nine unarmed protesters, in clashes between police and supporters of Gbagbo’s rival Alassane Ouattara.

For its part Mr Ouattara’s camp said two former rebel fighters and 30 civilian protesters had been killed. Journalists for AFP saw at least four dead bodies with bullet wounds, and three protesters lying wounded and motionless.

Ms Lohoues-Oble insisted that pro-Gbagbo forces had used “conventional law enforcement tactics” and noted that some of the demonstrators were armed, and that the government had ordered an inquiry into the causes of the deaths.

Sources in the ex-rebel New Forces (FN) said they were planning to sweep south in support of Alassane Ouattara’s claim on the presidency, after both he and Mr Gbagbo declared themselves the winner of last month’s election.

Earlier in the day a column of jeeps carrying FN troops tried to storm a defence forces’ position south of the 2003 ceasefire line at Tiebissou and fired several rockets before being forced back, a pro-Gbagbo officer said.

“They fired several RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenades at our positions and our elements returned fire. They pulled back to regroup and return,” the pro-Gbagbo officer said, on condition of anonymity.

The New Forces source confirmed the fighting.

“The first shots began in Tiebissou. Our plan is to dismantle the FDS,” he said, referring to the abbreviation for Mr Gbagbo’s Defence and Security Forces.

Ivory Coast has been split between the north and the south since 2002, when a failed putsch against Mr Gbagbo’s rule sparked a civil war.

Since 2003 there has been an uneasy ceasefire, with the north of the country controlled by the former rebel FN and the south by the government’s FDS.