Heavy shelling rocks Liberian capital

The heaviest shelling in a week of fighting rocked the centre of Liberia’s besieged capital Monrovia today.

Residents sprinted for cover as the shells began falling shortly after dawn in the diplomatic quarter, which is packed with refugees.

It was impossible to tell during the barrage how widespread the attack was. Both sides in Liberia’s war have accused the other of shelling the densely populated city.

Rebels have pushed President Charles Taylor’s forces into the centre of Monrovia following a three-year campaign against the Liberian leader.

Insurgents launched their third attack in two months on the capital last Saturday. Fighting since then has killed hundreds.

Monday’s shelling had marked the heaviest day of fighting since June, and claimed heavy casualties.

Earlier, the United Nation’s special representative to Liberia said the country has been “basically destroyed” by the conflict, and that its only hope was for the international community to send more aid quickly.

Jacques Paul Klein, an experienced US military adviser who headed the UN mission in Bosnia, expressed doubts that a Nigerian-led regional peacekeeping force would arrive in Liberia within a week as promised.

About 20 shells landed within 10 minutes in the streets around the US embassy, a high walled, heavily guarded compound overlooking Monrovia’s Atlantic beaches.

The embassy appeared to have escaped unscathed, but witnesses said two shells hit the nearby compound of Radio Veritas, a Catholic-run radio station that has been an outspoken critic of Taylor.

As the shelling subsided, angry residents surrounded the US mission.

“I want to tell George Bush to do something hurriedly, very fast and quickly,” said Emmanuel Sieh, 28. “People are dying every day.”

Washington says it is still deciding whether to send troops to end the violence in Liberia, which was founded by freed American slaves in the 19th century.

Fighters “are launching at civilian targets, not military targets, and our people are dying,” said Vani Johnson as he emerged from a basement.

A woman wrapped in white stood before the embassy with her arms raised beseechingly in the air. “We are tired! We are tired!” she cried.

From inside the compound, a US marine peered at her through binoculars.

At least 11 civilians were killed and more wounded by today’s shelling, aid workers and refugees said.

Weeping uncontrollably, one woman cradled a two-week-old baby as she stood next to a body bag holding her sister, the child’s mother.

“What do they want to achieve?” cried a man nearby, Peter Garwah, 27. “Innocent people are dying, not soldiers.”