Minister denies dissidents' claims

Liberian Defence Minister Daniel Chea has denied claims by rebels that they have captured several commanders of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL), Radio Liberia International reported him as saying on Sunday. One frontline commander who the dissidents allegedly have in their custody, Chea said, is commanding the Seventh Brigade in Vahun in northern Liberia. The commander has been ordered to lead a counter-offensive, the pro-President Charles Taylor station reported. Taylor reportedly addressed a religious meeting in the capital Monrovia on Thursday saying that "hundreds" were killed after two days of rebel attacks on the towns of Belle Fassama and Belle Baloma, adjacent to the war-wracked northern Lofa County. Aid workers, who pulled out of Liberia's northwestern Gbarpolu County after fighting resumed last week, are trying to maintain contact with displaced people to ensure basic services are maintained, a humanitarian source in the capital Monrovia said on Friday. The rebel group, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), was suspected of involvement in last week's clashes, according to BBC. The group, which has been fighting in northern Lofa County since 1998 to overthrow Taylor's government, has intensified its attacks since September, BBC added.