A massive undersea earthquake sent a tsunami crashing into the South Pacific nation of Solomon Islands today, destroying at least one town and killing eight people, including six children, officials said.

Liberian rebels shattered a day-old pledge to cease-fire, lobbing mortars at neighbourhoods crowded with refugees and briefly capturing a key bridge in the war-ruined capital desperately short of food and water.

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.