Sierra Leone warlord 'dead'

Sam Bockarie is an alleged war criminal

The Liberian Government says the Sierra Leone warlord Sam Bockarie has been killed by Liberian forces.

Mr Bockarie, 40, who has been indicted by the special court on war crimes in Sierra Leone, was a senior commander of the rebel Revolutionary United Front.

"He is dead. The body is right here," Liberia's Information Minister Reginald Goodridge said.

He added that Mr Bockarie - a former hairdresser, diamond-miner and disco dance champion - had been killed while trying to cross into Ivory Coast.

'Arrest attempt'

The Revolutionary United Front committed widespread atrocities during Sierra Leone's brutal 10-year civil war which included hacking off the hands of their victims.

An attempt by Liberian government forces to arrest him was met with stiff resistance and there were serious casualties on both sides

Liberian Information Ministry

At least 30,000 people were killed and thousands mutilated in the conflict which ended in 2002, with the help of Britain, the former colonial power, and a United Nations peacekeeping mission.

A UN-backed war crimes tribunal, staffed by international and Sierra Leonean judges, prosecutors and investigators, was set up last year to bring those who perpetrated the violence to justice.

Six of the eight people indicted by the court are in detention, but former Sierra Leone junta leader Johnny Paul Koroma and Mr Bockarie were still at large.

A statement from the Liberian Information Ministry said Mr Bockarie had been killed after an attempt to arrest him met "stiff resistance".

"There were serious casualties on both sides," the statement said.

Body in Monrovia

Last week the war crimes tribunal said that Mr Bockarie was in Liberia and urged the country's President Charles Taylor to hand him over for trial.

Mr Taylor however denied allegations that the rebel leader was in the country.

Mr Bockarie was recently reported to be leading a group of fighters helping rebels in Ivory Coast.

His supporters are accused of killing an Ivorian rebel commander Felix Doh last month.

Journalists in the Liberian capital Monrovia have been told they will be shown Mr Bockarie's body.