Shelling batters Liberian capital

Refugees were sheltering in the school when the shells hit

The centre of the Liberian capital, Monrovia, has come under fierce bombardment on the seventh day of fighting.

Eight refugees died as several shells hit Newport High School, where hundreds of people were sheltering, early on Friday morning.

The BBC's Paul Welsh in Monrovia says that one shell landed in the playground near a group of people who were washing or preparing a breakfast, killing them all.

In one 10-minute spell, some 30 shells landed in one area which contains residential districts, shopping streets, the United States embassy and international agencies.

This is the fiercest of the three rebel onslaughts on Monrovia in the past two months, with several hundred people believed to have been killed in recent days.

The owner of the Holiday Inn in Monrovia told BBC News Online that 25 people had been killed as shells rained down near the hotel on Friday morning.

Monrovia (Image: Digitalglobe)

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Mr HM Jawary said that five rockets had hit his five-storey hotel, where some 200 people sought shelter, injuring six or seven people.

The shelling, which rebels deny being responsible for, is the worst since Monday when 60 people died in an hour long attack.

Another mortar struck just 10 metres from the aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres's compound, where they are treating people already wounded or sick from disease.

Street battles are continuing, mainly around one of three bridges which would give the rebels access to the heart of the city.

Peacekeepers

The situation in Monrovia is getting increasingly desperate for civilians.

Supplies of safe drinking water have run out in most parts of the city, increasing fears that cholera and other illnesses could spread rapidly.

Q&A: Liberia's conflict Eyewitness: Monrovia's refugee hotel

They are also at risk from stray gunfire, often from looters taking advantage of the breakdown in law and order.

Aid workers says the violence is preventing them reaching the thousands of Liberians crowded into churches, schools and other temporary shelters.

Meanwhile, uncertainty continues about the deployment of foreign peacekeepers.

After discussions on Thursday between West African, UN and United States officials, there is still no firm decision on when the Nigerian peacekeepers that have been promised will eventually be deployed.

The United States pledged $10m to the African peacekeeping operation but has not yet decided whether to send troops to the country, with which it has historic ties.

The United Nations Security Council held closed door talks on Liberia on Thursday evening.

No immediate deployment of peacekeepers appears likely.

US role

Our correspondent says that US marines are handing out leaflets, warning that people making sudden movements near the American embassy will be shot.

Only God can save us Victoria, Liberia Should the US intervene now? Treating the wounded

Jacques Klein, the UN special representative to Liberia, expressed frustration over the apparent reluctance of the international community to intervene immediately.

"I need a battalion tomorrow morning and then a second battalion in four days, and then hopefully more. But right now we have nothing," he said.

Mr Klein also appealed for more American money and troops.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said President George W Bush had "not yet made a decision as to whether or not the US will commit troops beyond logistics and support".

Some senior members of the American military have been expressing their concerns about sending troops.

General Richard Myers, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said the situation in Liberia did not lend itself to an instant solution.

His deputy, General Peter Pace, said the situation was potentially very dangerous, and compared the risks facing any American deployment to the failed intervention in Somalia 10 years ago.

Corpses have been piled outside the US embassy in protest at the lack of American intervention.