ABIDJAN, Nov 6: Ivory Coast warplanes mistakenly bombed a French base in a rebel-held region on Saturday, killing eight French soldiers and wounding 23 , sharply escalating tensions in the world's top cocoa producer.
The French military retaliated by destroying the two Ivorian Sukhoi fighter jets when they returned to the airport in the capital Yamoussoukro.
Hours later Ivorian forces clashed with French troops at the airport of the main city Abidjan.
French President Jacques Chirac ordered the destruction of Ivorian planes following the attack by Ivory Coast forces.
"The President of the Republic ordered the immediate destruction of the Ivorian military aircraft used in recent days in violation of the ceasefire," his office said in a statement.
The fighting between French and Ivorian forces erupted on the third day of a government aerial bombardment to pave the way for a ground offensive to retake rebel positions in the north.
"There has been a clash at the airport between French military and the (Ivorian army)," French military spokesman Henry Aussavy said in Abidjan. "They were firing against the French," he said.
An Ivorian military source at the airport said two Ivorian soldiers had been wounded in the clash.
"In the centre of the Ivory Coast, a (French) camp was bombarded by two Sukhoi 25 (planes), and in response to this attack two aircraft have been destroyed," French Defence Ministry spokesman Jean-Francois Bureau said in Paris.
"For the moment we have counted eight dead, French soldiers, and 23 injured," he said.
An Ivorian army official said the air strike on the French base was a "mistake" and that the warplanes had meant to target a rebel position nearby.
French troops fired teargas to disperse pro-government supporters who gathered outside their base in the main city of Abidjan to protest at the destruction of the aircraft.
The government bombing raids were the first major hostilities since a truce signed in May last year ended fighting which had killed thousands and uprooted more than a million people.
Ivorian army officers have said a land invasion would follow the air raids to chase out the rebels who have controlled the north since the war that followed their failed attempt to oust President Gbagbo in September 2002.
Some 10,000 French and UN soldiers police the buffer zone around a ceasefire line that cuts a swathe across the country and separates the rebels from the government-run south.
UN peacekeepers stopped two army convoys trying to cross into the zone on Friday, but rebel leaders have accused the peacekeepers of not doing more to stop government attacks.
ANTI-FRENCH RIOTS: In the northwestern town of Man about a thousand protesters hurled Molotov cocktails at French forces, venting anger at what they saw as France's slowness to intervene in the government offensive.
"Two of our vehicles were burned and destroyed. Three stores containing food, water and petrol were burned down," said Henry Aussavy, spokesman for the French troops in Ivory Coast.
Aid workers in the rebel-held western town of Danane, just 27kms from the border with Liberia, said they were preparing for an imminent attack. Rebels said the army had already burst through the buffer zone near the town, but this could not be confirmed.
"They have got through the confidence zone near Danane to attack us. We are pushing them back now," said Sidiki Konate, spokesman for the rebel New Forces.
French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said on Friday the United Nations may beef up the mandate of the peacekeeping troops to prevent fighting between government forces and rebels.
"The secretary general will be left with no choice but to give the forces specific rules of engagement that will allow them to deal with the situation," UN spokesman Nkolo said.
"Something is being worked out as we speak and could be delivered today or tomorrow," he said.-Reuters