Attack by Gbagbo Supporters Kills 6 in Ivory Coast

Six people were killed in an overnight attack on a village in Ivory Coast's restive south-west bordering Liberia, a military source said Wednesday.

The source said four attackers were arrested, all of them sympathizers of ousted strongman Laurent Gbagbo, currently in custody at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where he faces charges of crimes against humanity.

The attack took place in Sakre, the source said, speaking from Guiglo, a town about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of the village. Other military and local sources confirmed the attack.

A local said two others were injured and several homes were torched.

The attackers were based in Liberia and aimed "to loot the villagers of their belongings," the source said, adding that the situation was under control.

The claim could not be independently verified.

Gbagbo's refusal to cede power to Alassane Ouattara after 2010 polls sparked a bloodbath. According to the United Nations, some 3,000 people died in the violence -- 1,000 of them in the west, a region that is prone to ethnic tensions.

The region still faces security problems, and some 170,000 people remain displaced, the U.N. says.

About 20 people were killed in September 2011 during an attack the authorities blamed on "Liberian mercenaries".

Clashes in the region have pitted pro-Gbagbo militias and mercenaries against President Ouattara's forces.

Ouattara promised reconciliation and accountability during a visit to the region, and on Wednesday the new national assembly opened its session in front of a banner saying: "Sorry".

"I ask for your forgiveness and invite you to go to camps and villages and ask for your own forgiveness," assembly president Guillaume Soro told colleagues.