MONROVIA: French special forces swooped into Monrovia by helicopter yesterday to airlift hundreds of foreigners to safety as rebels crept closer to the centre of the Liberian capital.

The thunder of mortars and heavy artillery echoed across the city as French troops shuttled expatriates, many of them aid workers, to a naval vessel waiting off the West African coast.

Smoke billowed over Monrovia's northwestern suburbs, under rebel attack for the fourth day running. A report from the UN regional information service Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) said more than 100 bodies were lying by one of the capital's main roads.

"I feel pity, I feel pity about the country and the general situation," said Vladislav, a Red Cross doctor from Belarus as he was taken to safety by the French forces.

"You feel relieved as a human being because you are leaving, but Liberia deserves a better life," he said.

Military sources said the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) launched a dawn strike on the city, despite promises to halt their offensive and give peace talks in Ghana a chance. LURD negotiators in Ghana declined to comment.

The rebels met with a government delegation for informal talks yesterday, but mediators from the West African regional body the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said negotiations were unlikely to get under way wholeheartedly until tomorrow.

A team of mediators planned to set off on a diplomatic shuttle to Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, where it would meet President Charles Taylor.

Agencies via Xinhua