Government says it has retaken two key towns

Liberian government troops have retaken two major towns in Lofa County from dissidents and are trying to recapture a third, Information Minister Joe Mulbah told IRIN on Tuesday. "We are in complete control of Kolahun and Foya and our troops are fighting seriously for Voinjama," Mulbah said. The BBC reported Defence Minister Daniel Chea as saying that a fourth town in Lofa had also been retaken. However an opponent of the Liberian government, Massa Nyoissun kai Massa, told the BBC that his unnamed "resistance group" was still in control of towns they had captured in Lofa and no territory had been lost. There has been no independent verification of either claim. Mulbah told IRIN that government forces were on the offensive, and that they were pursuing between 500 and 600 rebels who were fleeing towards the border with Guinea. Former combatants have been asked to join the government forces in defending their regions against the rebels, Mulbah said. He was not able to give details on how many had signed up so far or on casualties suffered in the past week. Chea said on Monday on the BBC that retreating rebels were burning towns and villages and that his forces were coming under artillery fire from the Guinean side of the border. The border was closed on 11 August following reports that the rebels had attacked Lofa County from Guinea and captured several towns. President Charles Taylor declared a state of emergency in the area. There has been much speculation over the identity of the rebel force. A spokesman for the group said it was made up of Liberians who were sent by Taylor to back insurgents in neighbouring Sierra Leone, Reuters reported on Monday. Mulbah told IRIN that the government had received indications that two former warring factions, Ulimo-J and Ulimo-K, might have regrouped. "We don't know for sure," he said "but, if so, it's a marriage that will never last."