Troops surround 5 armed rebels

SUVA - Four hundred Fiji troops were last night closing in on a gang suspected of shooting a soldier and policeman dead as nationalist rebels renewed attacks against ethnic Indians.

Spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Filipo Tarakinikini said the manhunt in thick bush near the centre of Fiji's main island of Viti Levu should end with the capture of the gang of about five gunmen within 48 hours.

"We have deployed 400 soldiers to close them in from the east, west, north and south," he said.

The soldier and policeman were shot dead on Tuesday in the worst act of violence since nationalist rebel George Speight plunged Fiji into a political crisis when he took over Parliament on May 19. Speight is now in custody on the island of Nukulau, awaiting trial.

The military has said the gang is armed with weapons taken from armouries for the attack on Parliament and from a raid on a hydro-electric plant at Monasavu in central Viti Levu. It is also negotiating an end to a long-running standoff at the plant.

A house owned by ethnic Indians in Labasa on the second main island of Vanua Levu was burned to the ground by suspected rebels yesterday. A family of six was unhurt in the attack.

Spokesman Major Howard Politini said the house was burned in protest at the military presence in Labasa.

"We have some information about those who were involved in the arson attack and we are working with the police to find them," Politini said.

About 100 Speight supporters have been arrested on Vanua Levu in a military crackdown after Indians were targeted by gangs in Labasa and the farming village of Dreketi.

- REUTERS