Thousands of people are fleeing the Ivory Coast's main city Abidjan in the face of escalating violence there, the newspaper Le Patriote reported in its Monday online edition, DPA reported.
At least 25 people were killed on Thursday when forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, who refuses to vacate the presidency despite having lost November elections, fired mortars into a market place in an Abidjan suburb.
According to the United Nations, 300,000 people have already left their homes because of the violence, most of them from Abidjan.
The port city is one of the centres of the violence between Gbagbo supporters and those of Alassane Outtara, recognized by the international community as having won the presidential poll.
Abidjan's bus station was full of people desperate to leave, while ticket prices had soared to as much as three times their normal price, Le Patriote reported.