Over 1,000 Killed in Liberia's Latest Fighting: President

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, July 27, 2003

Over 1,000 Killed in Liberia's Latest Fighting: President

Liberian President Charles Taylor said Saturday over 1,000 people were killed during the latest rebel attack on the capital Monrovia, reports from Monrovia.

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Liberian President Charles Taylor said Saturday over 1,000 people were killed during the latest rebel attack on the capital Monrovia, reports from Monrovia.

Addressing at Monrovia's stadium to mark Liberia's Independence Day which falls on Saturday, Taylor said the rebels had killed "more than one thousand people."

Taylor was now under high pressure from international community and the United States to step down and leave his country.

But Taylor argued that he would not leave his country until peacekeepers arrive.

"If I were not here there would be bodies all over the city," he said.

Nigeria had promised to offer Taylor "a safe haven" in Nigeria and Taylor had accepted Nigeria's offer of asylum.

Liberia's main rebel group Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) since a week ago has intensified its attack on the capital city Monrovia with heavy mortar shelling raining in Monrovia's diplomatic areas around the US embassy.

US President George W. Bush on Friday ordered to position "appropriate military capabilities" off the coast of Liberia to support a West African peacekeeping mission in the war-torn West African country.

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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