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Army retakes Guekedou

    ABIDJAN

    Government troops, backed by heavy artillery and helicopter gunships, have seized the Guinean border town of Guekedou after four days of intense fighting against insurgents from Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to news reports.

    RUF fighter Bockarie Musa, who surrendered to UNAMSIL troops in Sierra Leone, said only 20 of the 365 fighters mobilised to fight in Guinea survived the recent battle, the UN Mission reported. Government casualties are unknown.

    A Freetown newspaper, ‘Concord Times’, reported Musa, 37, as saying his comrades were killed on Monday “in and around” Guekedou. Quoting an unnamed Defence Ministry source on Tuesday, AFP reported that the members of the United Liberation Movement (ULIMO-K) were among the attackers who occupied the town on 24 January. ULIMO was one of many factions that fought in Liberia civil war.

    During Liberia’s civil war ULIMO opposed the National Patriotic Front of Liberia led by the current president, Charles Taylor.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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