MISRATA – Six Libyan rebel fighters were killed yesterday and dozens more wounded by government artillery barrages near the rebel-held city of Misurata, doctors said.
After the clashes, reporters heard warplanes in the sky over the city and then the sound of an air strike hitting the area to the west of the city where the fighting had taken place.
Pickups and ambulances were arriving at a field hospital in Misurata’s western Dafniya district carrying fighters who had been wounded in mortar attacks.
Medical workers were using buckets of water to clean up blood from the floor of the field hospital, which had been converted from its previous use as a garage. Mohammed Elbira, a doctor, said 28 people were wounded.
Accounts from doctors and fighters at the field hospital suggested that forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gadafy have been using civilian homes and farms to provide them with cover from Nato air strikes.
Dr Elbira said the six fighters who died were involved in operations beyond the rebel lines, in farmland between the western edge of Misurata and the neighbouring town of Zlitan.
Misurata, Libya’s third-biggest city, is about 200km (130 miles) east of the capital Tripoli. For weeks it was the scene of bitter street-by-street fighting as Gadafy’s troops tried to snuff out a rebellion there against his rule.
Rebel fighters have now pushed pro-Gadafy forces out of the city itself, but the government troops still surround it on three sides.
Officials in the Libyan capital deny that security forces have targeted civilians. – (Reuters)