Checkpoint attack kills I. Coast soldier, 5 assailants

A solider and five assailants were on Saturday killed when a military checkpoint came under attack in southern Ivory Coast, a military source said, in the latest of a series of assaults. "A checkpoint of the Republican Force (army) was attacked late morning at Irobo by men in a pick-up. A soldier was killed, another was injured and transferred to Abidjan. Five attackers were killed," the source told Agence France Presse. The attack took place near Grand-Lahou 140 kilometers west of the economic capital Abidjan. A string of recent attacks targeting the army have sparked a sharp rise in tension more than a year after the post-electoral crisis of December 2010 to April 2011 claimed 3,000 lives. The government of President Alassane Ouattara has blamed supporters of former president Laurent Gbagbo whose refusal to accept the election result led to the crisis.