ABIDJAN — At least four people were killed in an exchange of fire between soldiers and unidentified gunmen at an army checkpoint in southern Ivory Coast, the West African nation's defense minister said Sunday. The world's top cocoa grower is struggling to cope with a spate of armed raids on police and military installations that began earlier this month. Defense Minister Paul Koffi Koffi said a gunbattle erupted on Saturday in the village of Irobo, around 80 km west of the commercial capital Abidjan, when soldiers at a roadblock tried to stop a vehicle carrying a group of armed men. — Reuters