Up to 100 bodies found burned alive in Ivory Coast as Liberian mercenaries carry out 'ethnically motivated' killings - 8th Apr 2011

The UN has said more than 100 bodies have been discovered in Ivory Coast in the last 24 hours, many of them burned alive, after two mass killings.

Around 60 were killed in one incident and 40 in another that appeared to have been carried out by Liberian mercenaries and are believed to have been 'ethnically motivated'.

Many of the victims had been burned alive, but others had died after being thrown down a well.

Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said: 'All the incidents appear at least partly ethnically motivated.'

He added that there were reports of 'smaller-scale killings in other places that have yet to be investigated'.

It comes after Ivory Coast presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara called for EU sanctions on the country's main ports to be lifted on national television.

Making one of his first speeches since the election, Mr Ouattara said the violent standoff caused by the defiance of Laurent Gbagbo to hand over power has plunged the country into a humanitarian crisis.

Speaking on LCI, he said: 'I have asked that European Union sanctions on the ports of Abidjan and San Pedro and certain public entities, be lifted. Read More