Ambassador urges rebels to pull back as mortars kill 14

MORTAR rounds pounded homes in Liberia’s rebel-besieged capital, killing at least 14 people, while the US ambassador appealed yesterday to insurgents to withdraw from the bloodied city and reopen its port for desperately needed food and aid.

It was the eighth straight day of deadly bombardments of schools and churches in crowded neighbourhoods of Monrovia, where rebels are pressing home their three-year campaign to drive out warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor.

One mortar round landed before dawn yesterday on a tin-roofed shack near a bridge leading from the rebel-held island port to downtown, killing four people, according to aid workers collecting bodies.