Comoran government troops, now in control of the capital of Anjouan island, freed all the prisoners from the main jail in its capital on Wednesday to the cheers of local residents.
Civilians were blocked from the airport by African Union (AU) soldiers who had backed the government's bid to oust a renegade colonel who had seized control of Anjouan in May. Sporadic gunfire could be heard in the area, but it was not clear what was going on there.
Hundreds of government troops backed by AU forces on Tuesday moved into the capital, Mutsamudu, which had been held by Colonel Mohamed Bacar, who claimed the presidency of the island.
Bacar, who has so far eluded troops, had spoken of seeking independence for the island.
Anjouan one of the three main islands of the Comoros -- an archipelago 400km off Africa's southeast coast.
Each of the three main islands has a regional president under Comoran President Ahmed Abdallah Sambi, who is based in Moroni on Grand Comore.
On Anjouan on Wednesday, there was evidence of looting of some government buildings in the capital. At the Interior Ministry, a photographer saw papers and files scattered around, and all the furniture was gone. At the main police station a child wore a police cap, while another played with a riot shield.
Comoros soldiers freed all the prisoners from Mutsamudu's main jail, including political prisoners, on Wednesday.
Capital residents cheered the freed prisoners as they went to the town center.
One of the freed prisoners, Nasser Nafion, 40, said he was picked up by police on Jan. 12 at the airport where he works and was told he was being jailed on the grounds that he is a distant relative of Sambi.
When Comoran soldiers got to Mutsamudu, troops backing Bacar came to the jail wanting to kill the prisoners, Nafion said.
"We were saved by the penitentiary guards who refused to open our cells to them," Nafion said. "This is the best day of my life. The people have saved us."
Comoran Defense Chief of Staff Mohamed Dosara said by telephone from the main island of Grand Comore that his forces had taken control of the capital and that "we have met a small amount of resistance."
There was no official word on casualties, but an elderly man was seen being carried on Tuesday after he apparently was hit in the hip by a stray bullet.
Two AU soldiers also appeared to have minor injuries.
South African President Thabo Mbeki criticized the operation, calling it "unfortunate."
"It takes the Comoros back to the use of force to solve a problem that could have been resolved with negotiations," he said on the South African Broadcasting Corp television on Tuesday. "There was no need to deploy troops."
Mbeki said Bacar had written to his government with a pledge to hold elections in two months.
Bacar, who seized power in Anjouan in 2001 and stayed on after an illegal election last year, had drawn increasingly strident warnings from the central government and the AU. Dosara on Tuesday said troops were searching for Bacar.
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