960417

20 Killed in

liberia barrack

attack

MONROVIA: More than 20 people were killed on Tuesday in a militia attack on a barracks in central Monrovia where up to 20,000 people are trapped, a militia commander said.

Colonel Thomas Doeh of the Armed Forces of Liberia told British Broadcasting Corporation radio seven people had been killed when a round hit the clinic in the complex and another four in the officer quarters.

"It's just desperate, very very desperate. People are running here and there, they don't know what to do," said Doeh, speaking from inside the Barclay Training Centre barracks.

The barracks, where ethnic Krahn militiamen are holed up, has come under repeated attack since fighting started in Monrovia on April 6.

The fighting pits Krahn militiamen loyal to Roosevelt Johnson, who has been sacked from the transitional government, against fighters of Charles Taylor and Alhaji Kromah, both members of the ruling Council of State set up last year.