By JEROME DELAY, Associated Press Writer Tue Mar 25, 6:52 PM ET
ANJOUAN, Comoros - The Comoros army seized the capital of this rebel-held island Tuesday, but sporadic fighting persisted as troops flushed out pockets of resistance and searched for the renegade colonel who hoped to make Anjouan independent.
Explosions and gunfire started before dawn as hundreds of soldiers backed by an African Union force moved into the town of Mutsamudu against forces led by Col. Mohamed Bacar.
Crowds of jubilant residents poured into the streets to cheer the invaders, chanting "Bacar is a dog!" and "We have won!"
There was no official word on casualties. An Associated Press reporter saw an elderly man being carried after he apparently was hit in the hip with a stray bullet. Two African Union soldiers also appeared to suffer minor injuries.
"We have now taken the Anjouan capital," Defense Chief of Staff Mohamed Dosara said by telephone from the main island of Grand Comore. "We have met a small amount of resistance." He said troops were searching for Bacar.
The Comoros  an archipelago of three main islands 250 miles off Africa's southeastern coast with a population of about 750,000  has experienced a series of coups and political upheavals since independence from France in 1975. The late Bob Denard, a notorious French mercenary, controlled the Comoros behind a figurehead leader for most of the 1980s after a coup he led.
Bacar, who seized control of Anjouan in 2001 and stayed in power after an illegal election last year, had drawn increasingly strident warnings from the central government and the African Union.
President Ahmed Abdallah Sambi said he ordered the invasion. Each of the three main islands of Comoros has a regional president under Sambi, the country's main leader based in Moroni, Grand Comore.
About a dozen armed men who identified themselves as Bacar loyalists appeared in control just over a mile outside Mutsamudu. Inside the capital, gunshots rang out through the afternoon but the cheering crowds were able to walk through the streets.
Troops raided an old military garrison  believed to be a headquarters for Bacar loyalists  and emptied it of a cache of weapons, including assault rifles, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
Mohamed Kassim Adong, a resident of the coastal town of Domoni, said he saw soldiers going house-to-house conducting searches.
Several hundred soldiers landed from four ships in the first invasion wave. An additional 100 Comoros troops came ashore later with six pickup trucks mounted with machine guns.
About 450 Comoros soldiers were the spearhead of the military operation, supported by some 780 troops from Tanzania and 400 from Sudan, said Pascale Andreani, a spokeswoman for the French Foreign Ministry. France says its interest in its former colony is confined to backing the African Union and ensuring the territorial integrity of the Comoros.
South African President Thabo Mbeki criticized the assault, calling it "unfortunate." He said Bacar had written to his government with a pledge to hold elections in two months.
Officials at African Union headquarters in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, refused to comment.
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Associated Press writer Jonny Hogg in Moroni, Grand Comore, contributed to this report.
Location of ComorosComoros, backed by African Union forces, has invaded the island of Anjouan in an effort to topple the rebel leadership of Mohamed Bacar, who has been seeking independence from Comoros.

Around 450 troops disembarked on Monday, landing in the capital of Mutsamudu on Tuesday at dawn, where a jubilant crowd cheered for them. They joined the nearly 1,500 African Union forces from Sudan and Tanzania, with Libya, France, and the United States providing logistical support for the operation.

The Comoros government says they have already captured most of the island. "The operation started in the early morning hours and it is going smoothly and according to plan," said Abdourahim Said Bakar, a government spokesman. "The military has taken control over most of the island - the airport and Anjouan's capital, Mutsamudu." 

There have been no official reports of casualties, but two African Union soldiers appear to have suffered minor injuries, and one reporter saw an elderly man being carried away after apparently being hit by a stray bullet. Sounds of machine guns and heavy artillery could be heard throughout the island.

Mohamed Bacar seized control of Anjouan in a 2001 military coup. After his term expired in 2007, he held his own elections in which he declared himself the winner. This election was viewed as illegal by Comoros and the African Union.

"We hope that by the end of the day we will have the problem resolved," the government spokesman said. "A special group has been selected to capture Bacar, arrest him and bring him to court. He has to pay for his crimes." 

The spokesman also outlined his priorities for Anjouan once the island is stabilized, which included holding elections within three months, disarming Bacar's miltias, and putting Bacar on trial for corruption and human rights abuses once he is found.

The troops met some resistance from supporters of Mohamed Bacar, armed with assault rifles and rocket launchers and numbering around 400. Some loyalists gathered near Bacar's residence in Barakani, but the military soon took control of the area. The residence was searched, but Bacar was nowhere to be found.

The Bacar loyalists have reportedly begun using guerrilla tactics against the invading forces. "I have over a hundred men and we will fight until we die," said Lieutenant Ibrahim Moussa of the loyalists. "It's God's will that will decide who is to win and who is to die. The invaders won't make it through."

Though one Comoros soldier reports that three of Bacar's highest-ranking supporters have been arrested, Bacar himself remains at large. The government spokesman says he has been seen fleeing to the island of Mayotte by canoe. 

"Colonel Mohamed Bacar has been spotted in the village of Sadanpoini where he is heading without doubt for a place to flee on board a kwassa (small canoe) towards Mayotte Island," Abdourahim Said Bacar said. "It seems, according to various sources, that he is dressed as a woman," he added.

However, this information has not been confirmed. "The Comoran command will not confirm any information regarding the arrest of Colonel Bacar," said reporter Franck Berruyer.
 
In a nationally televised address, Comoros president Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi said he had approved of the military operation. "I have ordered the Comoran army and the forces of our country's friends to bring Anjouan back under the rule of law and free her citizens," he said.

Meanwhile, South African president Thabo Mbeki denounced the operation. "It takes Comoros back to the use of force to solve a problem that could have been resolved with negotiations," he said in a televised statement. "There was no need to deploy troops."