U.N. Troops in Sierra Leone Retake Key Rebel-Held Area

United Nations peacekeepers reclaimed an important road junction Friday in fighting with rebels, U.N. officials said.

David Wimhurst, spokesman for the U.N. mission in Sierra Leone, said rebels of the Revolutionary United Front, or RUF, fired rocket-propelled grenades at an Indian peacekeeping force on the road to Rogberi Junction, about 55 miles northeast of Freetown, the capital.

“They [U.N. troops] responded with heavy machine-gun fire and have reoccupied Rogberi, which is a very important position for us,” Wimhurst said.

U.N. forces withdrew from Rogberi Junction last month after rebels loyal to Foday Sankoh defied a peace accord, advancing toward Freetown and taking hundreds of peacekeepers hostage.

The hostages since have been released, although more than 250 peacekeepers remain surrounded by rebels in the east.

Soldiers said the aim of the government offensive was to recapture Lunsar, a few miles from Rogberi Junction on the road from Freetown to the key rebel-held town of Makeni and the eastern diamond mines.

Lunsar already had changed hands twice this week, with heavy casualties reported on both sides.

“There is heavy fighting between government troops and the RUF in an effort to recapture Lunsar,” a brigade commander in the Sierra Leone army said.

He said the rebels were using weapons and armored personnel carriers captured from U.N. peacekeepers last month.

Refugees fleeing the area around Lunsar said the rebels were continuing to harass and kill civilians.

“They killed one boy when he would not give them the food he was carrying. They just shot him dead,” said Mohammed Bendu, a trader who fled Lunsar.