The Indian Ocean archipelago nation of Comoros said it had seized control of the rebel island of Anjouan today after a seaborne assault backed by the African Union (AU).
Earlier, a presidential official said the Comoros army, along with about 400 AU troops, had taken part in a "first wave" of assaults on Anjouan, one of three islands in the coup-prone archipelago that won independence from France in 1975.
With 1,350 AU troops in support, the national government aimed to quickly topple Anjouan's local leader, French-trained former gendarme Mohamed Bacar, who clung to power in an illegal election last year and commands a militia of several hundred.
"So far we have no dead or wounded to lament. The rebel chiefs have all run away, and none has yet been found," an army spokesman said.
A Comoros government spokesman said troops quickly occupied the capital Mutsamudu and two other towns, Domoni and Ouani, after arriving by boat at dawn.
There was no news of the whereabouts of local leader Bacar, and with phone lines cut, there was no independent confirmation of the Comoros forces' actions. on the ground.
Analysts say the AU is hoping to score a relatively easy victory in Anjouan - whose population is just 300,000 - to earn some international prestige to offset the struggles of its peacekeeping missions in Sudan and Somalia.
Lying off Africa's east coast, the Comoros islands were first settled by Arab seafarers 1,000 years ago, then later became a pirate haven.