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Thou sands of terrified civilians streamed out of the Liberian capital Monrovia yesterday in search of safety, food and water as fighting raged between government troops and rebels for control of three key bridges.

Food shortages in the city are growing more acute, drinking water is scarce and the top UN coordinator for Liberia has warned that "one of the worst humanitarian tragedies in the region" is impending.

The fighting between troops loyal to President Charles Taylor and rebel forces is concentrated on three strategic bridges - Stockton Creek Bridge linking the rebel-held port with the airport, and Johnson and Old Bridges leading to the city centre.

"We're defending our positions on the bridges," Defence Minister Daniel Chea said. "There's a very thin line between our forces and theirs".

Rebels of Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd) succeeded in crossing Stockton Creek Bridge on Wednesday evening and penetrated 800 m into loyalist lines before withdrawing across the river, according to General Roland Duo, commander of the government troops.

The capture of the Stockton Creek Bridge on Somalia Drive ringing the capital to the north would enable the Lurd to link up with comrades who seized the city's Atlantic seaport on Saturday.

Large numbers of government soldiers could be seen on Somalia Drive as pickup trucks loaded with fighters roared off toward the front, two kilometres to the west.

Stray rounds whistled in the distance.

Nearby residential areas were almost deserted, local people having fled, while thousands trudged along Somalia Drive, loaded with bundles of belongings.

Most headed toward the airport but with no real destination in mind, seeking simply to put space between themselves and the fighting.

"I'm heading towards Careysburg" outside Monrovia, said Festus Nyumah, a 44-year-old typist.

"I have no place to stay and no fixed destination. I just want to move as far and as fast as possible".

Hundreds of civilians have been killed, and some 200 000 people - one-fifth of Monrovia's population - are thought to have been displaced.

Some have reportedly been robbed by government forces.

General Duo said both the Lurd and a smaller rebel group had also launched offensives elsewhere in the country.

The Lurd have been trying to take a town in the Gbarnga area northeast of Monrovia, while the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (Model) has already seized control of the port of Greenville, some 350 km east of the capital, he said.

In Monrovia, meanwhile, thousands have crowded into the Samuel Doe stadium, between the airport and the city centre, where teams from the humanitarian group Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF – Doctors without Borders) were distributing drinking water.

In Kendeja, a picturesque seaside suburb, the national arts centre was converted into a camp for nearly 7 400 displaced people.

As with other aid centres across the war-ravaged capital, food, medicine and drinking water there were dwindling dangerously with little hope of adequate resupply.

"Stocks of food and water are running low, malnutrition is widespread and tens of thousands of people do not have access to drinkable water," Marc Destanne de Bernis, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Liberia, told the UN's news agency Irin.

"If the fighting does not stop immediately, we shall see one of the worst humanitarian tragedies in the region," he said.

Aid organisations still present in Monrovia are cut off from stocks of food in the port, now under rebel control.

West African leaders Wednesday said they would send 1 300 Nigerian troops "urgently", but the date of the deployment will not be set until next week.

The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) has planned eventually to deploy 3 000 troops in Liberia, but the organisation's executive secretary Mohamed Ibn Chambas said Tuesday that at least 5 000 would be required.

The US has pledged to contribute to the force but has yet to make a specific commitment, sparking growing anger on the part of ordinary Liberians, many of whom are descendants of freed American slaves who founded the west African country in the 19th century. – Sapa-AFP.

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