Liberian capital bombarded by rebels

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

Deputy Defence Minister Austin Clark said an unknown number of civilians had been hit by the blasts as they fled the fighting.

“People were torn to pieces,” he said of yesterday’s attack.

By nightfall, the guerillas had crossed St Paul’s bridge into the western outskirts of the city, defence officials said.

The assault came despite a ceasefire signed last week that tried to quell Liberia’s insurgency, which has brought the refugee-swollen capital under siege.

The fighting sent families rushing into the city centre for safety, streaming into neighbourhoods where schools, stadiums and other buildings were already packed with terrified people.

“We will continue to run and run – no end to our running,” said one woman.

The rebels and the government accused each other of violations of the truce, the first in Liberia’s escalating three-year-old conflict.

“Minor ceasefire violations are expected. But that does not mean one should launch a full scale war on a populated town like Monrovia,” Defence Minister Daniel Chea said.

The rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy said yesterday that they were pulling out of peace talks in neighbouring Ghana.

Rebels accused West African mediators of not holding Taylor to his pledge to give up power as part of the June 17 ceasefire accord.

The accord called for talks leading to a transition government, without Taylor.

In three years, rebels have captured at least 60% of the country, and are now pushing to take Monrovia and drive out the former warlord.

A UN-backed war crimes tribunal indicted Taylor earlier this month for what prosecutors said was his “greatest responsibility” for a 10 year terror campaign in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

The UN Security Council has imposed sanctions on Taylor and his regime for gun running, diamond trafficking and other dealings with militias in Sierra Leone and elsewhere in West Africa.