Seven UN peacekeepers from Niger were killed in an ambush in western Ivory Coast Friday, in the deadliest attack on the force since its deployment in 2004, a UN spokesman said.

Seven UN peacekeepers from Niger were killed in an ambush in western Ivory Coast Friday, in the deadliest attack on the force since its deployment in 2004, a UN spokesman said.

The UN Security Council swiftly "condemned in the strongest terms" the deadly ambush.
The 15-member council called on the Ivory Coast government to "work with all relevant parties to identify and bring the perpetrators to justice."

UN leader Ban Ki-moon said he was "outraged" by the killings of the peacekeepers and warned that more UN troops "are still in danger".

"Even tonight, after the attack, more than 40 peacekeepers remain with the villagers in this remote region to protect them from this armed group," the UN chief said. "My thoughts are with these brave peacekeepers and the community they are protecting."

He called on the Ivory Coast government "to do its utmost to identify the perpetrators and hold them accountable for this deadly attack".

The country's deputy defence minister Paul Koffi Koffi said the attackers had crossed over from neighboring Liberia, adding that two Ivorian soldiers and at least one civilian may also have been killed.

The UN denounces the "very serious violation of international law", a spokesman for the United Nations Operation in Ivory Coast (UNOCI) added.