Ivory Coast massacre kills 1,000: agency

Aid agencies are reporting mass killings in theIvory Coast city of Duekoue, capturedby fighters supporting UN-recognized president Alassane Ouattara this week.

The Red Cross on Saturday saidat least 800 civilians were killed in inter-ethnicviolence in a single neighbourhoodof the city in recent days, while the Roman Catholic charity Caritas said the number exceeded1,000.

Red Cross spokeswoman Dorothea Krimitsas said delegates from the Ivorian Red Cross had visited Duekoue on Thursday and Friday to gather evidence and saw a "huge number of bodies."

"We are shocked by the brutality and scale of this act," said Dominique Liengme, head of the International Committee of the Red Crossdelegation in the African country.

Caritas spokesman Patrick Nicholson saidworkers with his agencyvisited the cityon Wednesday. He said they saw victims who died of gunshot and machete wounds.

It's not clear whether the armed group trying to install Ouattara as president was involved.

The mass killingbrings the confirmed death toll from violence since the presidential election last November, in which Ouattara was the internationally recognized winner, to 1,300 people.

More than a million people have fled their homes because offighting betweenforces loyal to Ouattara and those siding with former presidentLaurent Gbagbo, who refused to relinquish power and is believed to be still insidethe presidential palace in the main city, Abidjan.

Gunfire and explosions continued to ring out near the palace Saturday morning as fighters loyal to Ouattara continued to surround the site.They have been halted at Gbagbo's doorstep by the Republican Guard, Gbagbo's most elite and loyal troops.

However, most of Gbagbo's top military commanders have deserted him and observers say he won't be able to hang on for much longer.

Meanwhile, local youths armed by Gbagbo in anticipation of the rebel attack are now maraudingin the streets of Abidjan.

Residents say they are afraid to leave their houses. Stores and homes are being ransacked across the city, though it's unclear whether the looters are acting under orders or simply taking advantage of the power vacuum in the streets.