Three killed as church shelled

Embattled President of Liberia Charles Taylor urged international peacekeepers to hurry to Liberia and renewed pledges to step down when they arrive, as shelling brought new carnage to the trapped residents of the nation’s capital, Monrovia.

Taylor’s promise – which he has reneged on before during a two-month-old rebel offensive on Monrovia – came hours after a mortar round slammed into a Monrovia church harbouring thousands of refugees, killing at least three civilians and wounding 55 others.