Troops fighting for Liberian rebel chief Charles Taylor killed his rival Prince Johnson in an ambush in the capital of Monrovia, Taylor's spokesman said Tuesday.
The claim could not be independently confirmed.Tom Woewiyu, who also serves as defense minister for Taylor's National Patriotic Front, said Johnson, 31, was killed Tuesday morning on Bushrod Island in Monrovia and his body has been taken to NPF headquarters.
"Johnson was trying to get out of Monrovia when he ran into our forces," Woewiyu said.
The two guerrilla leaders split three months ago, and since then each has threatened to kill the other.
Johnson's men had been holding much of Monrovia for several weeks after launching a surprise attack from a swamp north of the city. They caught President Samuel Doe's troops by surprise and took control of the city's port area and also several residential districts.
The report of Johnson's death came as an African peacekeeping force appeared to be meeting further delays.
On Monday, U.S. Marines flew helicopters into Liberia's rebel-held territory Monday to evacuate 97 foreign nationals fleeing from fighting in Monrovia.
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(ADDITIONAL INFORMATION)
How pool reporting works
The stories on the rebellion in Liberia are pool reports - which are used when only one reporter of photographer at a time is permitted to cover an event.
News organizations covering this rebellion have resorted to pool reporting because of the difficulty in getting stories and pictures out of the African country.
Here is how the pool works:
The journalists go their separate ways in the morning, always in groups of two or more for safety reasons, gather information and then meet over lunch to discuss what's to go in the day's report.
After these conferences, they take turns writing the story.
There are only a handful of radio telex circuits in Monrovia. Friendly embassies have made their communications facilities available for limited use under the pool arrangement.
They telex The Associated Press, United Press International or Reuters, in that order, depending on whose telex lines are open.