(Adds quotes, details, byline) By Salim Bamba BOUAKE, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Soldiers in Ivory Coast's northern rebel-held zone fired warning shots on Thursday to disperse demonstrators who attacked them with stones during a protest over electricity bills, a Reuters witness said. Several hundred protesters blocked roads, burned tyres and smashed up one of the offices of the national power company in Bouake, the rebel headquarters and Ivory Coast's second city. A number of rebel soldiers were injured after being pelted with stones. One man said a fellow protester had been taken to hospital after being shot in the foot by rebel troops. The report could not be immediately verified. Civil unrest in northern Ivory Coast has been almost unheard of since it was seized by rebels during a brief 2002-03 civil war. Troops shot dead one man in a protest against extortion by rebels in the northeast of the country last month. A regionally-brokered peace agreement signed this year has provided what analysts say is the best chance of reuniting the country since the war began. But progress on disarmament and organising elections has been slow. The demonstrators continued to protest in the afternoon until they dispersed during heavy rain. They said they were angry the power company, which gave them free electricity since the war until last year, had begun to cut off customers who paid late. Some turned on rebel soldiers during a march in the city, chanting that both they and the power company were "thieves". Some northerners have grown distrustful of the rebels since leader Guillaume Soro, now prime minister, signed the peace deal with their former sworn enemy President Laurent Gbagbo, leaving opposition parties that most of them support with little clout. (Reporting by Charles Bamba; Writing by Peter Murphy; Editing by Alistair Thomson and Robert Woodward)
