More than five hundred people fleeing rebel fighting in the Liberian coastal city of Robertsport arrived in the capital Monrovia Friday aboard fishing canoes bearing white flags.

People crowded the dock in Waterside, a suburb of Monrovia, to receive relatives arriving aboard the canoes.

Many of those who fled Robertsport told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa that they left their homes with nothing as the "attack took everybody unawares".

A 17-year-old student said he and his classmates were in school when they heard heavy explosions across the town, causing them to flee in different directions.

"The heavy artillery frightened us to the extent that we could not think of returning home but fled to the beach where we boarded the canoes," he said.

"While escaping Robertsport, we saw LURD rebels with heavy machine guns moving towards the city centre firing in all directions. I left my mother, three sisters, two brothers and grandmother trapped in Robertsport," said another student.

Liberians United for Reconciliation and Development (LURD) rebels attacked Robertsport, an administrative seat about 110 kilometres northwest of Monrovia, on February 10.

Last week the rebels attacked Denneh, Combat Camp, Behn and other villages within a 30 mile radius of the capital.

Meanwhile reports reaching Monrovia said that Guinea had closed its borders with Liberia.

Liberian security officers said heavily armed Guinean troops and artillery have been deployed at the border.

"Unlike the previous border closure, this one seems to be serious, and no one living in Liberia is allowed near the St John River Bridge which constitutes the border with Liberia," said one border guard - Sapa/DPA