Several Gunfired as Ivory Coast soldiers mutiny spreads to Abidjan

A mutiny by Ivory Coast soldiers over pay has spread to the commercial capital Abidjan, with soldiers taking over the country's army headquarters.

They fired in the air as they took control of the base in the city's Plateau district. The mutiny began on Friday in the central city of Bouake.

It then spread to a number of military camps around the country.

Defence Minister Alain-Richard Donwahi has gone to Bouake to discuss the protesters' demands.

An MP in the city said the soldiers wanted $8,000 and a house each.

The BBC's Alex Duval Smith in Ivory Coast says the mutiny brings back memories of Ivory Coast's 10-year civil war, which ended in 2011.

France to increase troop numbers in Ivory Coast after beach attack

French Defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian

(Reuters) - France will nearly double the number of troops it has in Ivory Coast, the defence minister said on Saturday on a visit during which he laid flowers at the site of an attack on tourists that killed 19 people.

Jean-Yves Le Drian placed a bouquet on the beach in Grand Bassam, a resort town 40 km (25 miles) from Abidjan, where gunmen shot swimmers and sunbathers before storming hotels last month, an attack claimed by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Four French citizens were killed.