22 Nov 2006

Pressure mounts on former Fiji soldiers in PNG to surrender

7:32 pm on 22 November 2006

Pressure is mounting on five former Fiji soldiers in the Papua New Guinea autonomous province of Bougainville to give themselves up to police after a deadly gunfight in the south.

Bougainville police have confirmed that wanted conman Noah Musingku was shot and wounded in a gunfight in the early hours yesterday near Tonu.

Police Sergeant Jeffrey Magum says four of Mr Musingku's bodyguards were killed by the Bougainville Freedom Fighters who attacked his base.

One of the attackers was killed and two were wounded.

Sergeant Magum says several other Musingku supporters are also believed injured, including three of the Fijians, and medical teams have been dispatched to the area to find them.

He says the Fiji High Commission is coming to Buka to try and get the Fijians, who are in the province illegally, to surrender...

"According to some reliable information, they are not co-operating with the High Commission. They don't want to surrender towards Buka. I don't know what their intentions are. But they are armed and they are dangerous, so we are monitoring the situation in Tonu."