Village Near Peacekeepers Attacked by Sierra Leone Rebels, U.N. Says

Rebels attacked and burned a village near a U.N. peacekeeping outpost on Wednesday as civilians fled rebel-held central Sierra Leone, a U.N. spokesman said.

It was unclear whether there were any casualties in the attack several miles north of Jordanian U.N. troops stationed at Rockel Bridge, U.N. spokesman David Wimhurst said.

The bridge is on the outer edge of a U.N. security cordon around Freetown, the capital. On Tuesday, rebels and Jordanian soldiers exchanged gunfire near the bridge.

Rebels also attacked the town of Lunsar, about 50 miles northeast of Freetown, overnight for the third time since Monday, government soldiers said. The report could not be independently confirmed.

The town has changed hands several times since the Revolutionary United Front rebels reignited Sierra Leone’s eight-year civil war in early May.

Wimhurst said 45,000 people have fled during the past week from the rebel-held central towns of Magburaka and Makeni.

Meanwhile, a 1,000-strong British force deployed in Freetown was pulling out Wednesday in helicopters and planes. A 200-person British military training team, however, was staying behind to begin equipping and training Sierra Leonean soldiers.