Security forces loyal to Ivory Coast’s incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo have shot dead seven women at an anti-government protest.

The UN said the latest violence in Abidjan had brought the number killed to at least 365, since November’s disputed election.

In the city’s Abobo district, where the women were reportedly shot, anti-Gbagbo supporters vowed to fight back.

‘‘We wanted to protest peacefully, But, then the tanks of Gbagbo came and opened fire on the old. There were at least seven deaths, others died in the car. As we don’t have the means to defend ourselves, we’ve prepared bombs in and we’re waiting for Gbagbo’s forces,’‘ one man said.

Earlier, supporters of the embattled president also took to the streets.

The UN estimates some 200,000 people have fled their homes in Abobo in the last week. It has warned the power struggle between presidential claimants Laurent Gbagbo and Alassance Ouattara has brought Ivory Coast to the brink of another civil war.