Rebels raid camp near Liberian capital
Liberia’s capital was on high alert today after the West African nation’s rebels advanced closer than ever to the city centre, killing three people at a refugee camp on the outskirts of town.
Warlord-turned-President Charles Taylor’s security forces threw up roadblocks and searched cars throughout Monrovia.
“The bandits killed several of the displaced people, but we have put the situation under control,” Vice President Moses Blah said.
“There is no need for panic, the terrorists have been chased away back to where they came from,” said Blah, using the government’s term for the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy forces fighting since 1999 to remove Taylor from power.
The camp is about four miles from Monrovia’s centre – the nearest-ever rebel advance to the country’s seat of power. Camp residents said about 100 rebel fighters chased off government soldiers there before looted the camp and killing at least three people.
One man was killed and a woman shot in the head died instantly, then collapsed onto her infant, killing it, witnesses said.
