A European Union diplomat was killed by unidentified attackers overnight in Ivory Coast, according to a colleague.
"I can confirm the violent death of a member of the delegation," a senior European Commission official said, without giving further details.
The EU compound where a French diplomat working for the European Union mission in Ivory Coast was shot dead
The French embassy later confirmed the diplomat, Michel Miaucel, was shot dead in his home overnight.
He was in charge of West Africa security operations for the EU, embassy spokesman Jacques Cuzi said.
He said Mr Miaucel had been shot with his own gun by unknown assailants and died in his home.
There did not appear to be any political motivation for the killing, but the investigation was still ongoing, and suicide has been ruled out, he said.
"Since there was no break-in into the house, it could be someone close to him," Mr Cuzi said.
Mr Miaucel lived with his wife and children in Ivory Coast's southern commercial capital, Abidjan.
Ivory Coast has been split into a government-run south and a rebel-held north since insurgents failed to topple President Laurent Gbagbo in a 2002 attempted coup.
The United Nations is overseeing a transition government, and some 10,000 UN and French troops are deployed in the world's top cocoa grower, many of them in a buffer zone separating the two sides.
In recent months, Mr Gbagbo has repudiated peace plans backed by the United Nations and France, saying he will use African mediators to bring an end to the stalemate with rebels.
Talks have begun between the two sides in nearby Burkina Faso.
AP