Officials from the Ivory Coast embassy in Lagos expressed shock on Friday over a report that at least 10 Nigerians had been killed in that country for political reasons.
The Nigerians were reportedly killed on the orders of the Ivorian authorities for allegedly supporting the opposition.
An embassy official in Lagos told AFP he could not understand why Nigerians would be singled out for killing.
"I don't believe the report. If it is true, why would anybody single out Nigerians?" he asked.
He said the embassy was already making contacts with its government "to find out what actually happened."
The newspaper Punch reported on Thursday that 10 Nigerians were killed by security agents acting on orders from the authorities.
The daily quoted some Nigerians recently evacuated from Ivory Coast as saying that hundreds of other Nigerians had been tortured by agents of former military ruler Robert Guei and his civilian successor President Laurent Gbagbo.
It said the Nigerian embassy in Abidjan was also attacked following the crackdown.
Punch said Nigerians were being harassed for supporting opposition leader Allasane Ouattara.
Ouattara, leader of the Rally of Republicans (RDR), has been disqualified from holding political office in the country because of a dispute over his nationality.
A Nigerian presidency official told AFP on Friday that 292 Nigerians have been evacuated from the French-speaking west African country since the crackdown began a few weeks ago.
He could, however, not confirm the number of those killed following the attack -- LAGOS (AFP)
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