Libyan government forces have pounded the outskirts of the rebel-held city of Misrata, killing at least 22 people, a hospital physician said today.
The doctor at Hikma Hospital said Muammar Gadafy’s forces used tanks, artillery and incendiary rockets yesterday in the bombardment of Dafniya, about 27km west of Misrata. He said at least 61 people were wounded in the attacks.
Col Gadafy forces had renewed their shelling near Misrata on Wednesday. The city is one of the few footholds rebels have in western Libya and controls the country’s largest port.
The doctor said residents had reported no sign of Nato aircraft in the Misrata region. There also were no reports of Nato strikes in Tripoli, the capital. Nato had been pounding Tripoli and the surrounding area in recent days, stepping up backing for the four-month-old rebel uprising that seeks to oust Col Gadafy from power after four decades.
Rebels have taken control of swathes of eastern Libya, although fighting has since come to a stalemate even with Nato support. Misrata remained one of the most important rebel footholds in the Col Gadafy controlled west.
Government forces are surrounding Misrata on all sides but the north, where the city has access to the Mediterranean Sea for supplies and food through Libya’s major port. Rebels have beaten back several government attempts to retake the city.
Gadafy forces are pushing back on rebel forces trying to break out of Misrata to the west toward Tripoli, where Col Gadafy is increasingly cornered under Nato bombardment in the capital.
Pro-Gadafy troops encircled the city of Zlitan, 160 km east of Tripoli, today, rebels said, after fighting broke out there that could also open up the coastal road to the capital.
Sporadic clashes between Col Gadafy's forces and the rebels continued in the city, a rebel spokesman said, after the rebels took control of some parts of it. He said the situation was calmer than yesterday and the toll remained 22 rebels killed.
A rebel fighter in Misrata said Col Gadafy’s sons, Khamis and al-Moatassem, and top aid Abdullah al-Senoussi are in command of the operation in Zlitan, abouFzt nine miles from Dafinya. They are dug in trying to stop the rebel advance out of Misrata.
Turkey’s prime minister said in a TV interview broadcast yesterday that his country has offered Col Gadafy guarantees if he were to leave Libya but has received no response. He did not detail what sort of guarantees.
“He has no other option but to leave Libya, with the condition that he is given certain guarantees. That’s the picture,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in the interview with the NTV channel.
“We have given him these guarantees; we said we will help you leave for wherever you would like.”
US defence secretary Robert Gates has urged Nato allies, including the Netherlands, to do more in Libya to share the burden with France and Britain, which are carrying out most of the air strikes.
Agencies