One Rebel Group Uses Gunboat, Official Says

Fighting between rival rebel factions in the Solomon Islands intensified, with one using a stolen gunboat to fire cannon rounds at coastal encampments set up by the other group, a Solomon Islands official said. Alfred Maesulia, a spokesman for the Pacific island nation, said in a phone interview that “there might well have been casualties.” The shelling marked a major escalation of the weaponry being used. On Monday, the Malaita Eagle Force militia seized Prime Minister Bartholomew Ulufa’alu, but later dropped demands that he resign. Ulufa’alu’s political fate will be determined in a parliamentary session June 15, when he will face a no-confidence vote.