An additional 350 French troops joined the United Nations peacekeeping mission overnight, the ministry added. There were about 7,500 troops already in the country under the UN mandate.

United Nations helicopters and French forces patrolled the skies over the city as a tense calm reigned on April 3, a local resident told CNN.

The uneasy peace came in the wake of claims of a massacre as fighters backing internationally recognized President Alassane Ouattara battle forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, who refuses to leave office.

Foreign journalists reported being targeted and scrutinized. A group of journalists from the French TV channel France 2 were fired on by Gbagbo's forces when they tried to leave the Novotel hotel in Abidjan, according to the channel and two journalists who did not want their names used to protect their security.

Since then, Gbagbo forces have been patrolling the hotel premises, preventing foreign journalists staying there from leaving, the sources said.

The United Nations moved about 200 personnel within the country for their own safety as the situation got worse, spokesman Nick Birnback said Sunday.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demanded Sunday that Gbagbo step aside immediately. She also called "on the forces of President Ouattara to respect the rules of war and stop attacks on civilians."