One dead as football team's bus attacked in Ivory Coast

One player was killed and 23 people seriously injured after a coach carrying second division football team ES Bafing was attacked by armed bandits, Ivory Coast press reported on Thursday.

The attack happened during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday on the road from Duekoue to Bangolo in the west of the country.

The coach was returning from the capital Abidjan after a league match when it was sprayed with bullets as it tried to get away from thieves who had already robbed passengers from another coach.

The west is the most unstable part of a country and rife with insecurity and inter-ethnic tensions.

The situation was aggravated by a political crisis between December 2010 and April 2011 following disputed presidential elections.

Clashes in the region resulted in around 1,000 deaths according to a United Nations report.