At least five dead as gunmen attack Ivory Coast beach resort

At least five people were killed on Sunday when heavily-armed gunmen opened fire in the Ivory Coast resort town of Grand-Bassam, leaving bodies strewn on the beach. "At the moment there are five dead," a military source said on condition of anonymity after the assault in the resort popular with Westerners. An AFP photographer said he saw seven bodies on the beach and

another in the Etoile du Sud (Southern Star) hotel, one of the establishments that came under attack in the country's former French colonial capital.

The assailants, who were "heavily armed and wearing balaclavas, fired at guests at the L'Etoile du Sud, a large hotel which was full of expats in the current heatwave," one witness told AFP.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the shooting in the resort, which lies on the Gulf of Guinea around 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of the commercial hub Abidjan.

Another witness told AFP: "The shots took us by surprise and now we are staying holed up."

A crowd of several hundred people had gathered at the entrance to Grand-Bassam's French quarter at the edge of the old town, where a dozen ambulances were on standby.