MONROVIA, Liberia ? Rebels waging a brutal battle for control of Liberia’s capital announced a cease-fire Tuesday, a day after mortars rained down on the city in some of the bloodiest fighting in three years of civil war.

Despite the order to stop fighting, rebels traded machine-gun and grenade fire near three bridges connecting Monrovia’s port to the northern suburbs and downtown — symbolic heart of the country and site of President Charles Taylor’s offices.

Sporadic shelling also persisted, with one round striking a house across the street from the U.S. Embassy compound. Shrapnel rained down on a second house next door.

Three people were killed and two seriously wounded near the embassy.

Aid workers were removing the last of the bodies dragged in front of the U.S. Embassy on Monday by enraged residents, demanding to know when the United States would send troops to the country founded by freed American slaves more than 150 years ago.

There has been an outcry from aid groups; Oxfam said in a statement that “the delay in sending peacekeeping troops to Liberia is costing lives.”

Hospital officials and aid groups counted more than 100 killed Monday, but the toll was believed to be much higher. Defense Minister Daniel Chea placed it at well over 600.

Chea demanded the international community either send peacekeepers immediately or lift an arms embargo imposed by the United Nations to punish Taylor’s regime for trading guns for diamonds with Sierra Leone’s rebels. “Our people are being held hostage,” he said.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the United States had not decided whether to send troops.

“The situation in Liberia now is dynamic,” he said in Washington. “We’re continuing to monitor events closely.”