Guinea says gunmen from Liberia killed 47, wounded 29

CONAKRY, Guinea (Reuters) -- Guinea said on Sunday that 47 people had been killed and 29 wounded in a raid by unidentified gunmen who crossed from neighboring Liberia.

State radio, quoting officials, said the gunmen attacked the town of Massadou, 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the border between the two countries, on Friday.

It said two Guinean soldiers were among the dead, who included men, women and children.

The raid is the latest incident in a volatile West African triangle that includes Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, which is struggling to end a civil war that began in 1991.

Liberia has accused Guinea of helping insurgents who crossed into its territory in July and have been fighting there ever since.

Massadou is just across the border from the area of northern Liberia where fighting is focused.

Sierra Leone and others accuse Liberia's president, Charles Taylor, of supporting the Revolutionary United Front rebels who launched the civil war there.

Taylor, a former warlord, won power in 1997 multi-party elections. He says his own former civil war and election rivals are behind the insurgents fighting in Liberia.

Guinea, in the past, has accused rebels from Sierra Leone of crossing its border, often raiding villages there for food. Guinea's army has reinforced that border.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has made several attempts to defuse tension between the three neighbors.

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