By Loucoumane Coulibaly and Charles Bamba
ABIDJAN/BOUAKE, Ivory Coast (Reuters) - Rebels controlling northern Ivory Coast said Friday they had seized a town in government territory and were heading south, raising the prospects of a return to open war.
Rebel pledges to advance in the world's top cocoa grower followed another night of clashes in an Abidjan neighbourhood between forces loyal to incumbent Laurent Gbagbo and opponents who say he lost an election in November. There were also reports of gunfire in the capital Yamoussoukro.
"I can confirm that we are now in Zouan-Hounien," said Ouattara Seydou, spokesman for the rebel New Forces. "They are in the process of moving towards Bin-Houin," adding that they had been attacked by Gbagbo's forces from those towns.
An army spokesman said he had "no information" on any rebel movements in the west, near the border with Liberia.
The towns are small, remote and do not lie on a key axis, but the rebel announcement to have seized territory from Gbagbo's loyalists marked a significant escalation in a crisis which has turned increasingly violent this week.
Gbagbo has clung to power despite rival Alassane Ouattara being almost universally recognized as the winner of the presidential election.
U.N.-certified results showed Ouattara won that vote, but Gbagbo has refused to concede and the conflict appears to be entering a new phase with fighting erupting elsewhere.
Residents of the capital Yamoussoukro, where Gbagbo and senior officials have a retreat but where little government business goes on, reported an outbreak of gunfire overnight.
The spread of clashes in the world's top cocoa grower comes amid diplomatic efforts by the African Union to resolve a dispute that look increasingly unlikely to achieve anything.
Cocoa futures have been propelled to 30 year highs by the insecurity.
The United Nations says over 300 people have been killed in the conflict, but diplomats think that figure to be hugely understated because Ivory Coast's military rarely discloses casualties of their own or civilians they kill.
Ivory Coast's 80,000 barrel per day SIR refinery, a target of Western sanctions, said Friday it was operating "at a minimum" and is struggling to secure crude oil.
The U.N.'s refugee agency said it had received reports that the number of people crossing into neighbouring Liberia had jumped from around 100 per day to 5,000, after the clashes.
(Additional reporting by Luc Gnago and Tim Cocks; writing by David Lewis and Tim Cocks; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)
