WORLD IN BRIEF : LIBERIA : Rebels Launch Major Offensive

Liberian rebels launched what appeared to be a major offensive about three miles from downtown Monrovia, the nation’s capital, witnesses said. Travelers from the Loganville section of Monrovia reported large numbers of government casualties. The fighting was near the Bong iron ore mines’ railway station, the witnesses added. The station is the closest the rebels have yet come to the city center after a 10-day lull in the seven-month-old civil war. Meantime, a group of Liberians, including its foreign minister and Washington ambassador, have urged President Bush to send in U.S. peacekeeping troops once President Samuel K. Doe has left the country and an interim government has been set up.