text: Village attack kills 38 in eastern Sierra Leone . FREETOWN 1996-08-28 Sierra Leonean rebels killed 31 villagers and seven soldiers in an attack on the eastern village of Foindu , Eastern Region Brigade Commander Major Fallah Sewa said on Wednesday . Sewa said the rebels overran Foindu despite the presence of government troops in the village on the highway between Mano Junction and the diamond town of Tongo Field . An army spokesman in Freetown said Monday night 's attack was the third on a military post in the past week . Rebels of the Revolutionary United Front agreed a ceasefire in April . Continuing attacks are generally ascribed to renegade soldiers or uncontrolled bands of rebels and refugees displaced by the fighting starting to return to their homes . Peace talks in Ivory Coast began in February . Diplomats say they are deadlocked over the RUF 's insistence that foreign troops helping the government army should leave , and that they should have some say in the allocation of budget spending .