Liberia Says Rebels Ambushed Loggers

The government said Saturday that rebels had killed 15 people in an ambush on logging trucks, but the group fighting to topple President Charles Taylor said 60 soldiers had died in its attack on a military convoy.

Whichever account was closer to the truth, the violence Thursday was the worst reported in the West African state since a regional effort to bring the two sides together flopped when rebels boycotted recent talks.

Founded by freed American slaves in the 19th century as a haven of liberty, Liberia has known little but strife for more than a decade. Up to 200,000 people died during civil war in the 1990s and the latest conflict, which started two years ago.

Information Minister Reginald Goodridge said rebels of Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, or LURD, ambushed logging trucks in an area about 50 miles north of Monrovia, the capital.

“This was purely a civilian massacre. They ambushed logging vehicles and they massacred the people. This has nothing to do with the security forces,” Goodridge said. Fifteen people were known to have died in the attack, he said.

“Those boys in the bush are hungry and they have nowhere to go, so they turned on civilians,” Goodridge said.

But a LURD spokesman said the group’s forces ambushed a military convoy that was heading toward its positions, killing 60 soldiers, taking 30 prisoners and seizing weapons and ammunition.

“They decided to advance on our positions and in so doing they sustained heavy casualties,” William Hanson said.

“These guys are very pitiful and being used against their own will. We regret it, but they just had to die because they came against our positions.”

Independent confirmation of fighting is hard to obtain in a forested region that many civilians have fled.

The Economic Community of West African States tried to organize a meeting involving rebels and government officials in Nigeria earlier this month, but LURD said it was invited too late for its representatives to attend.