Death Toll in Liberia's Fighting Surpasses 300: Official

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, June 14, 2003

Death Toll in Liberia's Fighting Surpasses 300: Official

More than 300 people have been feared killed since fighting erupted last week on the edge of Liberia's capital Monrovia, according to a report from Monrovia on Friday.

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More than 300 people have been feared killed since fighting erupted last week on the edge of Liberia's capital Monrovia, according to a report from Monrovia on Friday.

"Between 300 and 400, most probably 400, lives have been claimed by the latest fighting," Liberian Health Minister Peter Coleman was quoted as saying.

Coleman told a news conference in the capital that 150 bodies had been found in the New Kroo Town alone, scene of heavy fighting between President Charles Taylor's forces and rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD).

The health minister said the dead included civilians, government soldiers and rebel troops trying to unseat Taylor.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, its surgical teams had treated more than 500 wounded at Monrovia's main hospitals.

The renewed fighting between the government forces and LURD rebels started last Thursday and the rebels on Friday fought its way to reach the St Paul River, about 10 km from the capital center.

On Sunday, the rebels urged Taylor to step down within 72 hours to avoid bloodshed in Monrovia.

Representatives from the Liberian government, two rebel groups and 18 Liberian political parties resumed peace talks last Wednesday in Akosombo, some 100 km from Ghana's capital Accra, after Taylor and the LURD agreed in principle to a truce.

The Liberian civil war, which lasted about 15 years and claimed at least 200,000 lives, flared up again in 1998 following attacks launched by the LURD rebels in northern Liberia.

Civil war over the past decade has made Liberia among the most miserable places in the world and the latest unrest since 1998 has forced some 300,000 Liberians to flee to neighboring countries and claimed thousands more lives.

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