Scores of people were reported to have been killed in another clash between the forces of incumbent leader Alassane Ouattara against loyalists of former president Laurent Gbagbo on Monday in the capital Abidjan.
The heavy exchange of gunfire claimed dozens of lives in the world’s leading cocoa producer, Al Jazeera said.
International Committee of the Red Cross' Franck Kodjo said, "We have seen many dead. We recovered 40 bodies over two hours, but we were forced to stop because he had no room left in our van.
At least five bodies were recovered from yesterday's violence.
The CNN said Monday's operation was launched by the administration to disarm the last pocket of resistance and followed the two-day visit of former UN chief Kofi Annan to reconcile the nation.
A resident from Abidjan's Yopougon, Sary Gregoire, said, "I was locked into my house for the past two weeks with no food to eat. But this morning, we were able to escape."
Another resident Mathieu Mimi said, "We are trapped in guerilla warfare. The militiamen are mobile and melt into the populations. It is hard to catch them."
The post-election violence in this West African nation has resulted in hundreds of deaths and forced nearly a million of people to flee Abidjan.
The nation almost went into a civil war when Gbagbo refused to relinquish his power since his November poll defeat. He was arrested last month.
Life is starting to return back to normal in other parts of the country. Road traffic is slowly returning to normal and banks have reopened. Exports of cocoa will resume this week.
Details of this report here.
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