ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast - Warplanes bombed French peacekeepers Saturday, killing eight French soldiers and wounding 23, and French forces responded by shooting down government aircraft, French and U.N. officials said, in a clash that threatened to escalate Ivory Coast's renewed civil war.

 

The attack threatened to drag French and U.N. peacekeepers into the new fighting, which began Thursday when hard-line commanders in Ivory Coast's military broke a more than year-old ceasefire and launched bombing strikes on rebel positions in the north.
 

The French military announced afterward it was sending three Mirage fighter jets to West Africa, beefing up its military presence in the region. The jets will land at Libreville, Gabon, near Ivory Coast, spokesman Col. Henry Aussavy said.