(6 Jul 1998) English/Nat

Guinea Bissau's government forces came under heavy attack from rebels on Sunday in some of the heaviest fighting since a military faction mutinied a month ago.

The government forces have been backed up by troops from neighboring Senegal.

Rumours that 1-thousand new Senegalese troops had been dispatched to the area inspired the rebel forces to launch their biggest offensive yet, attacking government forces in the north of the city.

The fighting in Guinea Bissau began on June 7 with a coup attempt in the capital, Bissau, by former army chief of staff Brigadier Ansumane Mane, who accuses President Vieira of corruption and says he should resign.

The rebel forces are determined to win on this front, which lies to the North of the capital, and controls the route to the airport.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We are so confident that we will conquer them , we are preparing, preparing some means to attack them and when we launch an attack we have to head up the city. There is no stop."
SUPER CAPTION: Major Almane Alan Camara, Rebel Officer

Rebel troops find many bodies in the area - a result of the heavy mortar fire from both sides.

But any soldier for the government is left in the jungle to rot.

The rebels attitude is apparently different when it comes to civilian deaths.

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