WORLD IN BRIEF : LIBERIA : Soldiers Accused of Massacring Civilians

Soldiers loyal to besieged Liberian President Samuel K. Doe dragged at least 24 civilians from their homes and hospital beds and shot and slashed them to death on a beach, witnesses and diplomats said. The civilians were reportedly killed by troops of Doe’s minority Krahn tribe as rebels tightened their grip around Monrovia, the Liberian capital. Doe is holed up in his heavily defended cliff-top mansion. The civilians, some of whom were shot tied back-to-back, were Gio or Mano tribesman suspected of supporting rebels led by Charles Taylor.