Blue-helmeted peacekeepers in flak jackets patrolled the deserted streets of Liberia's capital on Saturday, firing in the air to enforce a round-the-clock curfew after a day of rare Muslim-Christian violence battered the seaside city. Interim head of state Gyude Bryant imposed the curfew in Monrovia on Friday after Muslim-Christian violence began before dawn and degenerated into mayhem and looting sprees in other parts of the city. On Saturday, at least five burnt-out vehicles lay overturned along a main road in Monrovia's eastern district of Paynesville, where several churches and mosques were set ablaze, apparently sparking the violence. It was unclear how many people were killed and injured, but some residents and peacekeepers put the death toll at five. One Ghanaian peacekeeper was hospitalized after being hit by a rock in the stomach on Friday, peacekeepers said. The violence was some of the worst to hit the capital since the end of a three-year rebel war last year.
