Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Libyan air raid in city leaves four dead and ten wounded

At least four people were killed and ten others injured in the shelling of the enclave oil Brig, 200 miles west of Benghazi, in the attempt by forces loyal to Muammar Gadhafi to regain the city, according to the Qatari television network Al Jazeera. The air strike was launched by forces loyal to the Libyan leader, Muammar Gadhafi, who since this morning trying to gain control of this strategic town, to now in the hands of opponents of the regime.

Libyan rebels, who try to contain the advancing forces of Gadhafi on the oil enclave of Brig, mobilized reinforcements while evacuating the wounded, as we noted at the way the city attacked an American freelance photographer Trevor Snapp. In a telephone conversation, Trevor Snapp said he had witnessed the evacuation of the wounded to Ajdabiya while jeeps loaded with armed militants with grenade launchers and AK-47 rifles came to the city in dispute.

At the moment it is unclear who has control of the city's airport, where at dawn the first clashes occurred on the offensive by two battalions reinforced Gadhafi faithful to mercenaries and supported by the Air Force. Conflicting stories broadcast by Al Jazeera explained that Gadhafi loyalists were cornered at the airport in the city where they would have been strong, but so far has been confirmed resigned the account of the Libyan Interior Minister, General Abdel Fatah Yunis, who stated that the control of the city had been recovered by the rebels.

The initial attack to regain control of Brig does not seem to lead to success and apparently the initial attack failed. Gadhafi troops have not limited, however, hence the offensive and Al Jazeera also realizes clashes in Gharyan, 40 miles south of Tripoli and in Sabratha, 40 km east of the capital.

Brig residents polled by the Arab channels Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera confirmed the early hours of the attack on this vital oil enclave, west of Benghazi, the second largest city in Libya and the most important power of the forces of opposition to the regime of Gadhafi. This is the first major labor strike Libyan army in two weeks to try to regain a village located east of Tripoli, where several cities have been falling in the hands of the rebels in recent days.

A resident of the town of Brig, identified only as Mahmud, told Al Arabiya that about 200 military vehicles arrived in the city, supported by three military planes. Brig Another resident, identified only as Khalid, told the network Al Jazeera that, from the resistance mounted by the rebel groups, Gadhafi forces "escaped" from the city and sought shelter in the local airfield.

A reporter for Al Jazeera said that to regain control of Brig forces were displaced from the town of Ajdabiya, located about 70 kilometers from Brig. Benghazi military sources said their troops had managed to repel the attack of the forces of Gadhafi to Brig and got expelled from the city.

This offensive by forces loyal to Gadhafi came just 24 hours after the Libyan leader's son Seif El Islam refuses told the British channel Sky News that the regime was intent to mount a counteroffensive to the west.

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