"We have to carry on with the operations because we don't want the dissidents to continue abducting the civil population," said General Benjamin Yeaten, deputy chief of staff.

"We have to protect our people. The dissidents were about 1,500 when they attacked Monrovia, but they had bad military advisers and they lost a lot of personnel," he said, adding that the government forces would defeat the insurgents.

A high ranking military official said there were "over 6,000" government forces in Foya, in northwestern Liberia, and more than 7,000 government troops around Zorzor in the northeast pursuing combat.

He said a large number of government forces, including regular soldiers and militiamen, had been despatched to Bomi Hills, whose main city Tubmanburg has been held by rebels for several months.

"Fighting is going on ... our men respect orders but they have also to protect the population and we cannot allow the dissidents to reorganise to the Bomi Hills region," the source said.

The comments came as peace talks were set to resume in nearby Ghana for a ceasefire in Liberia's four year-war.

The two rebel groups fighting President Charles Taylor together control 12 of Liberia's 15 counties.

The main Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebel movement had pulled back to the outskirts of Monrovia on Wednesday after the rebels and the government initially agreed to a truce.

But Kabineh Ja'neh, who is leading the LURD negotiators at the peace talks in Ghana, on Monday said: "Our positions have been attacked on all fronts and that is not a good thing.

"If our belligerent is waging war that is a further demonstration of his hypocrisy. We are are rethinking (the signing of a truce)," he said.

WAR.WIRE