Trapped residents of Liberia’s embattled capital emerged from hiding places by the tens of thousands today to welcome what they hoped was the advance guard of an Afro American peace force.

REBELS attacked government forces in Liberia’s second-largest city yesterday, stepping up war against President Charles Taylor on a second front as insurgents in Monrovia pressed their siege of the bloodied capital.

LIBERIAN rebels engaged in an all-out battle for the country’s war-torn capital said yesterday they have ordered their troops to stop fighting.

HEAVY fighting engulfed the Liberian capital yesterday, killing at least 70 people as mortars pounded the city in an all-out battle between rebels and forces of President Charles Taylor.

SOME 4,500 more American sailors and Marines have been ordered to position themselves closer to Liberia after at least 70 people were killed when heavy fighting engulfed the capital Monrovia yesterday.

Gunmen spread out on rooftops as government and rebel fighters in shorts and flip-flops traded grenade and machine-gun fire in an all-out battle for Liberia’s war-ravaged capital.

THE US has sent about 100 troops from Europe to west Africa to provide backup for a team assessing humanitarian needs in Liberia.

Artillery shells crashed into the Liberian capital Monrovia as rebels made a renewed drive to push President Charles Taylor from power.

FIGHTING roared towards Liberia’s capital yesterday in a serious blow to last week’s ceasefire and hopes of a negotiated end to West Africa’s deadliest conflict.

WEST AFRICAN mediators flew to war-torn Liberia yesterday as rebels besieging the capital said they were willing to respect a ceasefire — but only if President Charles Taylor’s forces stop attacking them.

Fighting raged today in a northern suburb of the capital of war-torn Liberia and terrified civilians fled by the thousands.