AJDABIYAH, Libya (Reuters) – Libyan rebels made a renewed effort to push towards the oil port of Brega yesterday while Muammar Gaddafi’s forces pounded besieged Misrata to the west with rockets and mortars, a rebel spokesman said.
Underlining the difficulties faced by the rebels, six were killed and 16 wounded when Gaddafi loyalists fired rockets at a group of insurgents driving along the exposed coastal’ highway from the town of Ajdabiyah west towards Brega.
The rebels’ attempt to fight their way into western Libya — which would eventually allow them to link up with comrades in Misrata — has ground to a halt along the eastern coastal stretch from Ajdabiyah to Brega, despite NATO air strikes.
Rebels said some fighters had set up positions on the outskirts of Brega, but with their forces exposed to attacks on the highway — and often fleeing back in response — they were unable to send more men forward to dislodge Gaddafi loyalists in the town centre.
In Misrata, besieged for seven weeks, a rebel spokesman, Gemal Salem, said Gaddafi’s forces pounded the town with rockets and mortars yesterday, targeting a dairy factory and another that makes cooking oil. He said three people were killed and more than 20 wounded.
The US-based Human Rights Watch has accused Gaddafi’s forces of using cluster bombs — which scatter bomblets over a wide area — in Misrata. The Libyan government has rejected the allegations.
In Ajdabiyah, rebels said Gaddafi’s forces were ensconced in the centre of Brega, often inside houses while insurgent fighters were themselves more exposed.
