ABIDJAN, Aug 12, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Prosecutors in the Ivory Coast said Monday they have charged 11 people, including members of the opposition party of ex-president Laurent Gbagbo, with alleged "terrorist" offences linked to unrest earlier this month.

On the night of August 1, a public transport bus was set on fire and a police car attacked in an Abidjan suburb "by a horde of hooded individuals holding machetes, clubs, firearms, and incendiary cocktails," prosecutor Oumar Braman Kone said in a statement.

An investigation led to the arrest of nine people, several of whom are members of Gbagbo's African Peoples' Party - Cote d'Ivoire (PPA-CI), which denies any involvement.

"During the various hearings, they cited Lida Kouassi Moise, former defence minister, and Kone Boubakar, retired ambassador, as the instigators of this violence," the prosecutor continued.

Police took those two men into custody over the weekend.

Kone said the suspects' goal was to spread "terror" and unrest following a controversial announcement by President Alassane Ouattara that he would be seeking a fourth term in October elections.

The 11 were charged with "terrorist acts, conspiracy against state authority, participation in an insurrection, wilful damage to a vehicle, and arson of a vehicle belonging to others," Kone added.

On Sunday, the PPA-CI denounced "an operation of intimidation and repression" and "judicial and political harassment", but Kone insisted there was no political motive to the arrests.

The West African country is facing a tense political climate less than three months before the October 25 presidential election, particularly due to court rulings barring several opposition figures from the election, including Gbagbo.

On Saturday, thousands of opposition supporters peacefully demonstrated in the streets of Yopougon, where the alleged attacks took place, against Ouattara's candidacy and demanding the reinstatement of their leaders to the electoral rolls.