Bissau rebel leader Mane killed in gun battle

A group of around 50 government elite troops attacked Mane and a group of his supporters in Quinhamel, 40 kilometres northwest of the capital Bissau, the reports said. It was not known whether the fugitive coup leader was killed in the fighting or whether he was executed.

The RTP showed footage of three bullet-ridden bodies which were believed to be those of Mane and two of his followers. The army command confirmed Mane´s death, the reports said. General Mane had fled the capital a week ago after an abortive attempt at a military revolt.

A stand-off between Mane and President Kumba Yala peaked when Mane unilaterally declared himself head of the armed forces. Mane accused the president of having made ethnically based military appointments and of destabilising the country.

The revolt failed after many of Mane´s followers surrendered to government troops when attacked at an air base north of Bissau. Mane led a rebellion against former president Joao Bernardo Vieira in 1998 and ousted him in a 1999 coup. After a new president had been elected, Mane formed a kind of shadow government, and the renewed fighting sparked fears of a new civil war.

(la/dpa)