Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi have again bombed Misrata in western Libya, Monday, April 18, said a spokesman for the rebels, adding that 17 people had died the previous day in the besieged city. "Gaddafi's forces are being bombed. They shoot rockets and shells on the eastern sector - Street Nakl el Thekil and residential areas around," said Abu Abdoubasset Mzeirek.
A hundred people, mostly civilians, were injured in the fighting Sunday, he said. At a meeting Sunday in Tripoli, senior envoys from the United Nations had demanded that the Libyan Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi Ali Al-Mahmoudi, an end to attacks against the rebellious city under siege. In a statement, Human Rights Watch (HRW), quoting witnesses, reported 16 civilians killed since April 14.
Eight of them, she said, died Thursday while they were queuing for bread. The organization of Human Rights speaks of shooting indiscriminately and stresses that a mortar shell slammed into a clinic where four people were injured. No rebel no one was in the targeted sectors, "she said. "The Libyan government forces have repeatedly fired mortar shells and Grad missiles on residential areas of Misrata, causing civilian casualties," said Peter Bouckaert, head of emergency operations at HRW.
"The Soviet-made Grad missiles is one of the least accurate in the world and should never be used in areas where there are civilians," he adds. Further west still, the loyalist forces bombarded the outskirts of the city Nalout, a few tens of kilometers from the Tunisian border, according to a witness.
Residents of Nalout had visited earlier in Zentena, about 120 km further east, for reinforcements, reporting heavy fighting while the pro-Gaddafi tried to completely block the border, officially closed but porous in places. Approximately 3,000 Libyans fled Saturday mountains west of their country to join Tunisia, said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Gaddafi forces have converged Ajdabiya Sunday, pushing back towards the east the rebels, who have however retained control of the city. On Saturday, insurgents had increased to forty kilometers in the direction of Brega, located 80 km west of Ajdabiya in favor of NATO airstrikes the previous days.
Libyan state television reported that NATO planes had bombed targets in the southwest of Tripoli and in Sirte, two strongholds of the regime of Colonel Gaddafi. According to a military spokesman, quoted by state television, the Western planes attacked positions in the Al-Hira, about fifty kilometers from the Libyan capital, have been targeted previously.
Television reported later that Sirte, Gaddafi's hometown, was also attacked. But on Sunday morning, intense fire on the west gate of Ajdabiya indicated that the pro-Gaddafi had returned to within 20 km, prompting some residents and rebels remained in the city to flee by the hundreds. The army eventually withdraw, and the rebels retained control of the city.
They were deployed on major streets, erecting barricades to slow the troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi in an incursion. Rocket fire from government forces on the front midway between Ajdabiya Brega and Saturday, 8 had died and 27 injured. 
A hundred people, mostly civilians, were injured in the fighting Sunday, he said. At a meeting Sunday in Tripoli, senior envoys from the United Nations had demanded that the Libyan Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi Ali Al-Mahmoudi, an end to attacks against the rebellious city under siege. In a statement, Human Rights Watch (HRW), quoting witnesses, reported 16 civilians killed since April 14.
Eight of them, she said, died Thursday while they were queuing for bread. The organization of Human Rights speaks of shooting indiscriminately and stresses that a mortar shell slammed into a clinic where four people were injured. No rebel no one was in the targeted sectors, "she said. "The Libyan government forces have repeatedly fired mortar shells and Grad missiles on residential areas of Misrata, causing civilian casualties," said Peter Bouckaert, head of emergency operations at HRW.
"The Soviet-made Grad missiles is one of the least accurate in the world and should never be used in areas where there are civilians," he adds. Further west still, the loyalist forces bombarded the outskirts of the city Nalout, a few tens of kilometers from the Tunisian border, according to a witness.
Residents of Nalout had visited earlier in Zentena, about 120 km further east, for reinforcements, reporting heavy fighting while the pro-Gaddafi tried to completely block the border, officially closed but porous in places. Approximately 3,000 Libyans fled Saturday mountains west of their country to join Tunisia, said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Gaddafi forces have converged Ajdabiya Sunday, pushing back towards the east the rebels, who have however retained control of the city. On Saturday, insurgents had increased to forty kilometers in the direction of Brega, located 80 km west of Ajdabiya in favor of NATO airstrikes the previous days.
Libyan state television reported that NATO planes had bombed targets in the southwest of Tripoli and in Sirte, two strongholds of the regime of Colonel Gaddafi. According to a military spokesman, quoted by state television, the Western planes attacked positions in the Al-Hira, about fifty kilometers from the Libyan capital, have been targeted previously.
Television reported later that Sirte, Gaddafi's hometown, was also attacked. But on Sunday morning, intense fire on the west gate of Ajdabiya indicated that the pro-Gaddafi had returned to within 20 km, prompting some residents and rebels remained in the city to flee by the hundreds. The army eventually withdraw, and the rebels retained control of the city.
They were deployed on major streets, erecting barricades to slow the troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi in an incursion. Rocket fire from government forces on the front midway between Ajdabiya Brega and Saturday, 8 had died and 27 injured.
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