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[This article has been excerpted.]

MONROVIA, Liberia (CNN) — Forces loyal to militia leader Charles Taylor launched a new attack Tuesday on a barracks where at least 10,000 refugees had retreated from Monrovia’s violence. Some of the people were being held hostage by fighters loyal to rival rebel leader Roosevelt Johnson.

Dozens of people, including children, fled the barracks after Taylor’s men began their assault with mortar shells, truck-mounted artillery and rocket-propelled grenades. Fighters inside the barracks appeared to be repelling the attack.

Violence throughout the city was blocking food and aid shipments, and more refugees were dying from disease. The U.N. High Commission for Refugees was trying again Tuesday to send a food convoy to 5,000 refugees holed up in a former Health Ministry building and to 75 children in a shelter.

…Tuesday, a rocket-propelled grenade hit the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church where reporters, including Time magazine’s Kirk Troy, had taken shelter.

Nigerian soldiers make up most of the 10,000-member West African peacekeeping forces…stationed in Liberia for years.

…Monday, Nigeria Foreign Minister Tom Ikimi accused the United States of not providing enough aid to the mission, and warned…the soldiers may be forced to pull out because of the renewed fighting. Some of the hostages in the barracks were peacekeepers

Many peacekeepers have been accused of ignoring or even joining in looting sprees.

Reporter Bob Coen in Sierra Leone, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.