UN troops fire warning shots in Ivory Coast

United Nations peacekeepers in Ivory Coast fired warning shots to disperse a hostile crowd blocking their vehicles after they "received shots" fired by hidden gunmen.

Ivorian state media loyal to strongman Laurent Gbagbo had alleged that civilians were wounded when UN blue helmets fired into a crowd in the Abobo district of Abidjan on Wednesday, but the spokesman denied this.

"The patrol did not fire on the crowd," Hamadoun Toure, spokesman for the UNOCI peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast, told reporters.

"It was a routine patrol that went to Abobo and was blocked by barricades. The patrol lifted the barricades and continued on its route, but was encircled by a crowd that was growing bigger and bigger," he said.

"They received shots from a building, and that's when we shot in the air, because there was a sort of mob preventing them from moving. So they shot in the air. We did not shoot into the crowd, just so that is clear." The head of UNOCI's human rights department, Simon Munzu, said the incident was under investigation and that he had received no reports of casualties.

Earlier, the pro-Gbagbo RTI television had showed footage of two young men in civilian clothes with fresh wounds, reporting that they had been wounded by fire from the United Nations patrol.

Earlier this month Gbagbo ordered UNOCI and French peacekeepers to leave Ivory Coast, accusing them of conspiring with his rival Alassane Ouattara.

The United Nations and the international community have recognised Ouattara as the victor in last month's Ivorian presidential election, but Gbagbo is clinging to power and his supporters' rhetoric is becoming more aggressive.

Supporters of Ivory Coast's incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo hold aloft an Ivory Coast national flag during a rally in Yopougon, Abidjan December 29, 2010. The European Union will tighten sanctions against Gbagbo next month, expanding a list of his supporters to be targeted after a disputed election, diplomats said on Wednesday.