Fighters loyal to Liberia's President Charles Taylor have pushed rebels out of the capital's port after fierce battles that prompted a British call for US intervention.
Military officials said rebels had retreated to the areaaround St Paul's River Bridge, about six miles from the heart of Monrovia.
Residents said the rattle of automatic gunfire had died down after intense overnight fighting.
The fighting drew calls for US intervention in the WestAfrican country founded by freed American slaves in the 19thcentury. But a US official said there were no plans todeploy any peacekeeping force.
People who had spent two days holed up in their homes inMonrovia ventured out early this morning searching for food. Pro-Taylor forces looted some businesses in the centre of town.
Rebels punched into the port yesterday, firing rocketsand mortars. Scores of people were killed in the battle,including several children when rockets exploded in a UScompound, witnesses said.
The lightning advance raised fears of a bloodbath inMonrovia, where thousands of terrified people are trappedbetween the fighting and the Atlantic Ocean. Aid workers say at least 300 people have been injured by bullets and shrapnel.
The showdown between Taylor and rebel Liberians United forReconciliation and Democracy s the culmination of athree-year bush war, but only the latest chapter innearly 14 years of violence.