MONROVIA, June 6: Liberian rebels struck across a key bridge into the sprawling outskirts of the capital Monrovia on Friday, driving thousands of terrified refugees before them.

Crossing the Saint Paul river took the enemies of Liberia’s President Charles Taylor to within five kilometres from the centre of the coastal city as peace talks brokered by West African leaders in Ghana were adjourned.

Under torrential rain, thousands of people poured into the choked city with whatever they could carry. Taylor’s fighters sped to beef up new lines of defence against rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD).

“The fighting is getting closer and closer,” said Alain Kassa, head of mission for Doctors without Borders (MSF).

Liberia has been racked by civil war for much of the past 14 years and many accuse Taylor of exporting war and terror to neighbouring countries such as Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast.

But now, the president seems boxed in. Two rebel groups bent on toppling the former warlord are homing in on the capital and he is wanted by the U.N.-backed court over war crimes committed during Sierra Leone’s civil war in the 1990s.

In a sign of further pressure, Taylor said on Thursday a foreign-sponsored coup plot had been foiled. Vice-President Moses Blah was arrested and other senior officials detained.

Sources close to Blah said he got a call from the US embassy urging him to take over while Taylor was in Ghana. The sources said Blah declined, but he was still detained.

Fleeing civilians said that after crossing the Saint Paul river, the rebels were poised to move into densely packed suburbs swollen further by the influx of refugees.

TALKS ADJOURNED: Peace talks in Ghana between rebels and the government were adjourned until Monday to allow time for the group of rebels known as Model to turn up.