Freetown
Hundreds of villagers have been burned, tortured, and maimed in a grisly campaign of reprisals by Sierra Leone's rebel fighters.
Bailor Jalloh, United Nations Children's Fund project officer, said former military junta troops seeking revenge for being ousted in February have been systematically hacking off the arms and legs of civilians - mostly women and children.
The atrocities have prompted a visit by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's special envoy for children, Olara Otunnu, to villages hit by rebel massacres.
''The atrocities have been going on for some time but are now more severe,'' Jalloh said. ''The difference is, in the past, children were not targeted. Now they are.'' He said guerrillas wanted survivors to tell their stories to intimidate others.
Mohamed Bah, 19, was brought to Freetown's Connaught Hospital from the village of Sadugu, where rebels cut off his leg with a saw and then made him watch as they slit his parents' throats.
''When they brought out my parents, they asked me if I had anything to say. I didn't say anything so they killed them,'' Bah said.-AP
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