Ivory Coast8217;s Gbagbo under house arrest after capture

8220;Pending the opening of a judicial inquiry,Mr. Laurent Gbagbo and some of his companions have been placed under house arrest,8221; Justice Minister Jeannot Ahoussou-Kouadio said in a statement.

The government did not say where Gbagbo was being held,nor who the 8220;companions8221; were.

The Ouattara government has said it is determined that Gbagbo will face justice over the months of fighting that erupted after he refused to admit defeat in a November president election he was widely regarded as having lost.

His decade-long rule was finally ended on Monday when troops loyal to Ouattara stormed a bunker in his residence where he had been hiding out.

Ouattara8217;s most pressing task is to quell unrest in Gbagbo strongholds,particularly in the main city Abidjan.

Amid the euphoria yesterday among his supporters,residents in some parts of the city reported fresh clashes involving heavy weapons fire around the Plateau district which is home to the presidential palace.

In Cocody,the neighbourhood where Gbagbo was arrested,a resident said 8220;there was sporadic small arms fire in the morning,after which we heard rocket and heavy machine-gun fire for several minutes.8221;

Tensions were exacerbated further by news that a former interior minister who was arrested along with Gbagbo,Desire Tagro,died yesterday in circumstances that remained unclear,sources said.