NEAR AJDABIYA, Libya, April 9, (AFP) - Heavy loyalist fire pushed Libyan rebels back almost to the town of Ajdabiya today, after the insurgents had pressed westward halfway to the oil refinery town of Brega, 80 kilometres (50 miles) away.
As diplomatic efforts gathered pace for a truce, the Red Cross brought much-needed relief to the besieged rebel-held port city of Misrata, the scene of fighting for more than 40 days.
A huge blast rocked Ajdabiya, said an AFP correspondent on its outskirts, with some residents suggesting it might have been a NATO air strike. In Brussels, a NATO official denied that there had been a strike.
A large pall of smoke was seen billowing over the key road junction town that had seen heavy exchanges between retreating rebels and advancing loyalists of Muammar Gaddafi just hours before.
Dozens of cars and military vehicles were seen pouring east out of Ajdabiya towards the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, as a helicopter bearing a rebel flag headed west towards the front line despite a no-fly zone.
The NATO official said reports on the helicopter were being investigated. In future, he said, NATO planes encountering such a violation would order the pilot to land immediately and could shoot him down if he refuses.
Advancing government forces shelled the retreating rebels west of Ajdabiya, an AFP correspondent there heard.
At least 10 loud explosions rocked the town's outskirts.
In a sign of the rebels' growing military confidence, for the first time since Wednesday they allowed foreign journalists to advance toward Brega to a point where a supply base had been established behind the short-lived front lines.
But they too had to beat a hasty retreat as government forces stepped up the shelling. Dozens of cars and military vehicles streamed eastward using both carriageways of the main highway. Anti-aircraft guns and rocket-launchers were seen taking up defensive positions at intervals along the highway to cover the retreat, and rebel fighters launched a salvo of Grad rockets from Ajdabiya's eastern outskirts. By early evening, an AFP correspondent said the shelling had stopped and the fighting had died down. The rebels were in control of the exit to Benghazi, and some cars and military vehicles were returning to town.
Earlier, two captured Gaddafi loyalists were brought back from the front. Excited rebel fighters chanting “Allahu Akhbar (God is greatest)” gathered round taking photographs with their mobile telephones.
One of the government fighters was in the back of a four-wheel-drive and seemed in good health.
But the other, who lay in the back of pickup truck, had blood all over his arm and appeared quite badly wounded. He covered his face with his hands as the convoy pulled up.
In other developments, the Red Cross ferried enough emergency aid for 300 war wounded to the embattled town of Misrata today as it fanned out across western Libya for the first time.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said a ship it had chartered docked in Misrata with medicines and surgical supplies as well as five ICRC staff. “We are sending the ship to support Misrata's main hospital by delivering enough medical supplies to treat 300 patients with weapon injuries on the spot,” said the head of an ICRC team in Tripoli, Jean-Michel Monod.
Earlier this week, the United Nations said a World Food Programme ship carrying food, medicine and doctors arrived late on Thursday at Misrata with 600 tonnes of foodstuffs, “enough to feed more than 40,000 people for a month.”Heavy fighting erupted in Misrata on Friday, with four civilians killed, as loyalist forces sought to dislodge rebels, insurgent sources and an AFP correspondent said.
And rebels there criticised NATO for what they said was its lack of response to a relentless pounding by Gaddafi forces for more than a month.
“We have officially informed NATO and have assumed responsibility for any presence of civilians, but they have not acted so far,” a spokesman told AFP.
Misrata, about 215 kilometres (130 miles) east of Tripoli, has seen fighting for more than 40 days since the start of the uprising against Gaddafi. |
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