Bacar's troops in Anjouan not to give up until last man standing(AFP)
With the red colours of Anjouan tied to the barrels of their guns, President Mohamed Bacar's troops vowed to stand in resistance to the very last, even if it costs them their lives.
"I have over a hundred men and we will fight until we die. It's God will that will decide who is to win and who is to die. The invaders won't make it through," said Lieutenant Ibrahim Moussa from the Anjouan forces.
Positioned around the base of a mobile police force squad locals call the "Pentagon" on the Comoros island of Anjouan, soldiers like Moussa were staked out to defend against a federal government invasion of their isle.
Federal troops -- comprised of Comoran soldiers and primarily Tanzanian African Union forces -- disembarked Tuesday at dawn and entered the Anjouan capital of Mutsamudu where they began clashing with Bacar's 400-odd men.
The government of the federal Union of the Comoros and the AU ruled that Bacar's July 2007 reelection was illegal and have set out to overthrow the leader.
In the afternoon, rounds of fire could be heard at the eastern edge of the capital Mutsamudu. Likewise, Tuesday at noon, clashes with heavy artillery continued to shake the town of Ouani, home to the presidential palace and the island's main airport.
Bacar's troops managed to hold the coastal route linking the two towns together. Hidden among shrubs lining the road, the lightly armed soldiers waited for their enemy.
Locals recall with fear a deployment in 1997 that left civilian casualties, but have yet to witness or experience any large scale effects of this offensive.
Farther down the road, on the outskirts of Mutsamudu, Bacar forces also stood guard, arms in hand in front of anxious civilians who perched in doorways or peered from the shadows of their shops.
An Anjouan soldier asked for updates on the situation in Ouani and told a small group of journalists that the enemy is close at hand. "Be careful!" he said.
Bacar's forces seem to have opted for a guerilla strategy: there are no visible reserves of ammunitions or heavy artillery at their defence points.
Young civilian men armed with knives and machetes sprinted along the road, darting suspicious eyes at foreigners. "We use them for information, they run fast to get updates and bring them back," said an Anjouan commander.
The Pentagon was eventually seized before dusk after several heavy exchanges of fire. Tanzanian and Comoran troops found around 20 rifles and rocket launchers but no fighters, who all fled for cover in the hills.
In Ouani, Comoran and Tanzanian troops succeeded in making some headway but then struggled to progress further under the automatic fire of Anjouan forces.
Members of Bacar's police hid behind a wall to observe from afar coalition boats out at sea -- one of which has been firing shells from time to time at the island.
"We are not afraid, we will resist, they won't win," said one the men, armed only with an old shotgun.
