It is the fiercest fighting yet in the battle for Abidjan.

After UN and French intervention against his heavy weapons capabilities, Laurent Gbagbo’s presidential palace has now come under sustained attack.

His rival Alassane Ouattara’s forces have launched the major assault to get Ivory Coast’s reluctant-to-leave leader out of power once and for all.

Gbagbo’s whereabouts today are not known but, as pressure mounts, he may be negotiating his surrender, according to the Ouattara camp.

Backed by loyalist forces, Gbagbo has defied international pressure to go, despite UN-certified results showing Ouattara won November’s presidential election.

Having taken much of the rest of Ivory Coast, Ouattara’s forces have poured into its commercial capital Abidjan in a final push to oust Gbagbo.

At least 1,500 people have been killed since the violence began, five months ago.