Witnesses in the volatile Abobo district of Abidjan described hours of heavy machine gunfire and grenade explosions Tuesday. At least two civilians also were believed to be killed.

The death toll could not immediately be confirmed, but one official said at least 10 officers were dead. A senior adviser to internationally recognized winner Alassane Ouattara said that at least 30 troops were killed, while another employee of the mayor’s office in Abobo put the death toll at 40.

The officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Col. Hilaire Gohourou, a military spokesman for incumbent Laurent Gbagbo’s government, denied any knowledge of the incident.

It was the fourth consecutive day of violence in Ivory Coast’s commercial capital since Ouattara’s Prime Minister Guillaume Soro called for an “Egypt-style” uprising in the country.

Security forces loyal to Gbagbo, who still clings to power, have killed at least nine people during this time, and the United Nations says that almost 300 people have been killed since the Nov. 28 election.

One resident described two bouts of fighting that went on for about 40 minutes each. When the fighting was over, he found two bodies stripped naked on the street in front of his house.

“It was a nightmare,” said the resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. “There were explosions and the deafening sound of machine guns.

This wasn’t the little pops of Kalashnikovs — we’re used to that,” he said.

Ouattara is considered the legitimate president of Ivory Coast by governments around the world, but he has not been able to assume office because Gbagbo is refusing to leave.

On Tuesday, a high-level delegation sent by the African Union was in Abidjan to meet with the warring sides in an attempt to find a solution, but they left Wednesday having made no progress.

Ouattara is backed by a rebel group based in the country’s north and observers expect that the rebels will launch an attack if Gbagbo refuses to leave. Ouattara has said, however, that he does not want to take the presidency by force.

Officials in Gbagbo’s government say that armed rebels have infiltrated the population in Abobo and have been firing on police. Members of the New Forces rebels refuse to comment on the issue, but stories of the “invisible commandos” circulate freely in Abidjan.

The UN, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned the human rights abuses, which include executions, kidnappings and rape, carried out by pro-Gbagbo security forces against suspected supporters of Ouattara.

An Associated Press investigation showed that there were at least 113 bodies being held in Abidjan’s morgues by officials who wouldn’t release them for burial.

The violence and political chaos has prompted international banks to flee Ivory Coast, with two more announcing their closures this week. This brings the total number of banks shut to seven, stoking fears of a cash shortage.

Gbagbo’s minister of finance, Desire Dallo, says that he will still be able pay civil servant salaries this week, even though more than 90 percent of them held bank accounts in the closed banks.

The government plans to transfer civil servant bank accounts to Ivorian banks to ensure the transfers go through, Dallo said.