Guinea Bissau descended further into mayhem yesterday as reports emerged that hundreds of dead were filling streets and fighting between mutinous troops and loyalist forces further escalated.
A senior official joining the wave of people fleeing Bissau, the capital of the west African country, said he saw more than 100 bodies littering the northern suburb of Bra where most of the heavy-artillery combat has been taking place.
The US embassy in Bissau was meanwhile in flames yesterday evening after an artillery shell hit a fuel depot inside the embassy compound, according to a well-informed source.
Several people evacuated to Dakar said the rebels were heavily shelling the city's harbour area in order to destroy the headquarters of the navy and the water and power company.
Bissau's Bishop Settimio Ferrazzetta appealed through the Vatican's Missionary Service News Agency for help from Europe, saying two-thirds of the capital's 300,000 inhabitants had abandoned the city, where "hundreds of dead are piled up in the streets, numerous houses have been destroyed and the hospital has been badly damaged." Residents fleeing the city also warned of famine.
All the US embassy personnel were reported to have left earlier in the day by boat to Gambia.
Diplomats said automatic weapons fire erupted inside Camp Bra in the capital Bissau, belying an announcement at the weekend that troops loyal to President Jose Bernardo Vieira had captured the base held by rebels backing the sacked armed forces chief of staff Gen Ansumane Mane.
The diplomats said the rebels were heavily resisting an offensive by some of the 1,300 Senegalese troops aiding President Vieira's forces. The Senegalese army later issued a statement saying 110 rebels had been killed with a loss of only eight of its soldiers.
The Portuguese news agency LUSA said that the Senegalese troops controlled access to the presidential palace.
France meanwhile said one of its ships had evacuated 331 foreigners from Bissau.