UN troops at the airport in Abidjan carry on a stretcher the body of one of seven UN peacekeepers from Niger who were killed in an ambush

AFP

Thousands of civilians in Cote d’Ivoire have fled their homes after seven UN peacekeepers and eight civilians were killed in raids near the Liberian border, a UN official and residents said.

The wave of unrest prompted Liberia to announce it was shutting its border with its neighbour, although it said the move would not affect humanitarian work in the area, reports AFP.

The peacekeepers were killed Friday while they were patrolling an area between two villages after hearing rumours of an imminent attack on communities there. At least one Ivorian soldier was also killed in the ambush.

A series of simultaneous raids on several villages near the south-western town of Tai sparked an "immediate" exodus, UN spokeswoman, Anouk Desgroseilliers told AFP.

The raids came just days after a Human Rights Watch report blamed recent attacks in southwest Cote d’Ivoire on fighters loyal to former president Laurent Gbagbo, who is currently awaiting trial on war crimes charges.

The authorities in Abidjan have said those behind Friday's attacks came from Liberia.

Desgroseilliers, of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said at least eight civilians, including a woman, had been killed in Friday's attack, along with the seven peacekeepers from Niger.

"Hundreds of people have arrived in Tai, and one can imagine that thousands of others are on the road," he said, adding that 35 families had crossed the border into Liberia to seek safety there.

"It's real panic here," mayor Desire Gnonkonte told AFP by phone from Tai. "People are taking little bundles and fleeing on foot."

Ange Joelle, a young woman newly arrived at Glaro Ubor village in eastern Liberia said she had "walked through the bush with my child on my back.

"I don't know where the rest of my family is." she added.

In Monrovia, Liberian Information Minister Lewis Brown said the government had decided on the "immediate closure of its border", adding that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf had ordered soldiers to be deployed on the frontier.

"Individuals found to have participated in cross border attacks will be arrested and extradited to Ivory Coast," Brown said at a press conference.