ABIDJAN -- Two French soldiers died and one was wounded in a firefight with former rebels in Ivory Coast, the first French combat fatalities since Paris deployed troops to the West African state last year, officials said on Tuesday.

The men were attacked on Monday by Lake Kossou, near the central town of Sakassou, by rebels who appeared to be drunk, Colonel Christian Battiste, spokesman for the French Army headquarters in Paris said.

Battiste said a patrol of around 25 French soldiers had been chatting with local fishermen when a group of 15-20 former rebels arrived and started hurling abuse.

"Suddenly they started shooting. We riposted. During the exchange of fire we believe there was one dead and several wounded (among the rebels)," Battiste said.

Two French soldiers died of their wounds after being hit in the head and chest. A third was wounded in the foot.

French and regional peacekeepers are patrolling a front line between the government-held south and the rebel-held north of Ivory Coast, following a civil war sparked by a failed coup in the world's top cocoa producer in September 2002. Thousands died in the fighting.

France had a base in Ivory Coast with about 600 troops prior to the outbreak of war. It added some 1,000 soldiers in the following weeks, before beefing up its ground force at the end of December with crack Foreign Legionnaires. A spokesman for the rebel New Forces said he had heard about the attack on the radio. "We are going to find out more," Antoine Beugre told Reuters in the main city Abidjan.

Beugre said Guillaume Soro, a top rebel official and minister of communications in a national unity government, would hold a news conference at noon (1200 GMT) in Abidjan.

The attack on the French came as fears mounted of a fresh outbreak of fighting in the former French colony.

France said on Monday it had foiled a bid to destabilize Ivory Coast by arresting a group of suspected mercenaries in the French capital.

A statement from the presidency in Abidjan said the arrests came "at a moment when various sources are predicting an eventual resumption of hostilities in Ivory Coast and an imminent attack on the city of Abidjan".

A spokesman for President Laurent Gbagbo accused the rebels of being behind the alleged plot, but they denied the charge.

Frustrations are also mounting among the rebels, who launched their uprising almost a year ago to oust Gbagbo.

Emerging from three-day strategy talks in the second city Bouake on Monday, they accused Gbagbo of obstructing the peace plan and said they feared elections due in 2005 would not be organized fairly.

Battiste said Monday's gun battle was an isolated incident, adding that the vast majority of the rebel New Forces were cooperating with the peace effort.

"This in no way calls into question the action of the Operation Unicorn force, which will continue to support the national reconciliation process," Battiste said.