Victorious Rebel Troops Mopping Up

Triumphant rebel forces skirmished with a small number of troops loyal to the deposed president, but they remained firmly in control of the West African country, Portuguese officials said in Lisbon. Leaders of the renegade military faction promised that planned elections would proceed and weighed whether to allow ousted President Joao Bernardo Vieira to go into exile. The rebels were fighting isolated pockets of resistance the day after storming the presidential palace in the capital, Bissau, a Portuguese Defense Ministry spokesman said. More than 100 soldiers and civilians were believed to have been killed in the battle for the palace, which forced Vieira to seek refuge at the Portuguese Embassy and scattered his 600-strong presidential guard. Guinea-Bissau once was a colony of Portugal.