Pacific Islands Report

5 shot in Fiji gun battle

SUVA, Fiji Islands — Military government troops have shot and wounded five people including two rebel gunmen in an exchange of fire outside Parliament.

Soldiers loyal to coup leader George Speight have also staged a mutiny on Fiji’s Vanua Levu Island, where they have overrun an army base.

The gun battle outside Parliament, where Speight has continued to hold 27 politicians hostage since May 19, occurred only hours after Fiji’s new indigenous prime minister, Laisenia Qarase, was sworn into office.

Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Filipo Tarakinikini said the shooting began when a group of about 200 men came out of the compound and one appeared to raise his weapon ready to shoot.

Fourteen of the men were detained by government troops after grenades were thrown at them, the British Broadcasting Company reported.

2 die as fighting continues in Solomons

HONIARA, Solomon Islands — At least two more warring militia members have been killed in a battle near the capital’s Henderson International Airport.

The Eagle Force from neighboring Malaita, using a bulldozer converted into an armed tank, captured an Isatabu Freedom Movement position in the area, along Guadalcanal’s Alligator Creek, after fierce fighting Sunday.

An attempt by the Isatabu militia to blow up a strategic bridge across the creek failed, causing only minor damage to a supporting wall.

2 jailed Samoan Cabinet officials mistakenly released

APIA, Samoa — An investigation has been launched in Samoa to determine how two former cabinet ministers found guilty of murder were mistakenly released from jail on weekend leave.

Leafa Vitale and Toi Aukuso were sentenced to death in April for the murder of the country’s late public works minister, Luagalau Levaula Kamu, last July. Their sentences later were commuted to life imprisonment.

The two men were met by their wives outside the jail and spent several hours shopping before police picked them up and returned them to jail.

A. Samoa operators must turn in poker machines

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa — The government has given poker machine owners and operators until noon Friday to voluntarily relinquish their machines or face the risk of criminal prosecution.

That message was delivered in a memo from Governor Tauese Sunia following a High Court decision two weeks ago that declared poker machines illegal in American Samoa.

The governor said that after Friday any existing machines will be confiscated and their owners and operators will risk the possibility of criminal prosecution.