A fierce battle is being fought around the capital of Sierra Leone, Freetown, between the military government and the Nigerian-led regional intervention force, ECOMOG. The two sides are fighting on at least two fronts in the outskirts and are believed to be using heavy artillery. Military and civilian casualties are rising. The Nigerians say they are trying to force the military regime which came to power in a coup last year, to return power to the ousted civilian government. The military government says it is a victim of aggression by the Nigerian Army. The BBC West Africa correspondent, Mark Doyle, is the only foreign correspondent in the city. He reports from Freetown behind the front lines held by the military government:

If the Nigerians succeed in cutting the main roads out of Freetown, they will effectively trap the military government and half a million people in the Freetown peninsula. On Sunday morning, sustained heavy artillery fire was heard from the east of the city.

It's believed both sides are using heavy weapons as well as the infantry that I can confirm are fighting on the streets. In the afternoon, at least one Nigerian jet fighter overflew the Sierra Leonean capital at high speed.

I was meeting the Sierra Leone military leader as the jet flew by and his men opened fire on it with small arms and automatic weapons. The plane appeared to escape the firing and I heard a boom which sounded like a bomb being dropped on the city.

A few minutes earlier, the military authorities had shown me a damaged part of another military aircraft. They said it was the tailpin and engine of a Nigerian jet they shot down in the port area on Sunday.

The main fighting on the ground now appears to be on the road leading east from Freetown to the provinces. Both sides say the front line there is about 10 killometres outside the city centre.

Another front line is in the hills above Freetown where the Nigerians claim to have taken a village called Regent. I can't confirm this but when I approached within a few kilometres of Regent, I was turned back by the sound of machine guns and small arms.

Casualties, both military and civilian, are mounting. Dozens of people are now believed to have died in three days of fighting although it's not possible to give accurate figures because the battles are stopping people gaining access to medical facilities.
 

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