Mortar blasts and automatic gunfire echoed in the capital of the Central African Republic Monday as fighting flared again despite President Ange-Felix Patasse's claim to have defeated coup plotters. Presidential spokesman Prosper Ndouba said troops were going after about 100 remaining mutineers. Fighting erupted about noon, the latest of several outbreaks of violence since the coup attempt one week ago. Patasse went on state radio to announce a reward for the capture of the opposition leader, former President Andre Kolingba, who is blamed in the failed coup. The coup attempt began May 28, when a mutinous unit within the army opened fire on Patasse's villa in Bangui, the capital.
Loyalist soldiers estimate the death toll since then in the hundreds.
Most of the dead have been Yacomas, Kolingba's ethnic group. Libya, trying to build its influence in the region, sent tanks and troops to help the government. Rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba in neighboring Congo dispatched fighters as well. On Monday, the government apologized for looting by its Congo rebel allies and asked them to control themselves. Patasse had declared victory over the coup forces Sunday, urging the last holdouts to surrender to avoid further bloodshed.