Ambulances ferried wounded rebel fighters from the front line west of Misrata Friday, June 17, 2011
Fresh Misrata attacks 'kill 10'
Ambulances ferried wounded rebel fighters from the front line west of Misrata At least 10 people were killed and 30 wounded when Libyan government forces bombarded targets near the western rebel-held city of Misrata, medics say.
Shells and Grad rockets landed on rebel lines between Dafniya and Zlitan, the next towns on the road to Tripoli.
Earlier, Nato warplanes carried out fresh daytime attacks on government and military targets in the capital.
The rebels also denied suggestions by a Russian envoy that they had been negotiating with Col Muammar Gaddafi.
Mahmoud Jibril, who is responsible for foreign affairs for the rebel Transitional National Council, said there had never been any talks.
Speaking in Naples after meeting Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, he said that were negotiations to take place, the TNC would "announce it out of commitment to our friends all over the world".
He added: "We pursue every means possible, whether political, whether military, to liberate our country and establish democratic government based on a constitution and equal rights."
Earlier, Russian envoy Mikhail Margelov told reporters in Tunis that Col Gaddafi's representatives had made contact with the rebels in a number of European capitals, including Berlin, Paris and Oslo.
Libyan Prime Minister al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi also said there had been "preliminary meetings", but did not give any details.
On Friday, barrages of shells and rockets landed on territory held by rebel fighters west of Misrata as they continued trying to advance towards Tripoli, after weeks of being besieged by Col Gaddafi's forces.
The rebels now hold a third of Libya in the east and pockets in the west The rebels returned fire from the front line, about 32km (20 miles) away from Misrata, with their own artillery and rocket launchers.
A rebel commander, Mohammed Ali, said they were aiming at tanks and munitions stores in Naima, near Zlitan.
"We had a strategy to finish everything today but some of the fighters think it's a game," he told the Reuters news agency. "They shot when they weren't supposed to shoot and they have ruined it."
Col Muammar Gaddafi warns Nato“This is the first time they are facing an armed nation of millions... They will be defeated”
Nato military spokesman Wing Cdr Mike Bracken told reporters that there were "some positive signs that civilians are unifying against the Gaddafi regime" in the area.
"The situation is highly charged, but for the time being pro-Gaddafi forces appear unable to strongly counter the anti-Gaddafi forces' incremental advances towards Tripoli."
In Misrata, rebel spokesman Ahmed Hassan said 10 civilians had been killed and another 40 wounded when shells and rockets landed in the city. He said the body of a woman was found in the rubble of her house.
The fighting was the heaviest since last week, when 31 rebels were killed when Col Gaddafi's forces bombarded the area.
What started as a peaceful uprising against Col Gaddafi's 41-year-rule four months ago has grown into a civil war, with the rebels now holding a third of the country in the east and pockets in the west, including Misrata.
Tripoli remains firmly under the control of the government, however, despite Nato ramping up pressure by launching more daytime air strikes.
Loud blasts rumbled across the city on Friday shortly after the Nato jets flew over, and emergency services raced through the streets as columns of thick, black smoke rose into the sky.
Nato warplanes carried out fresh daytime attacks on several targets in the capital Libya complained that an overnight raid by Nato hit a public security building, killing a number of people and destroying criminal records.
Later, Libyan state TV broadcast an audio message from Col Gaddafi, in which he vowed to defeat Nato and never to leave the country.
"This is the first time they are facing an armed nation of millions," he said, according to the Reuters news agency. "They will be defeated. The alliance will be defeated."
"We are in our country and we are determined to stay and defend it. We are staying, we are staying. Let them even use nuclear bombs."
Meanwhile, the United Nations has extended the mandate of human rights investigators looking into events in Libya.
The UN Human Rights Council agreed that its inquiry team should have more time. The council has already accused both sides of violating human rights.
On Thursday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton added her voice to charges that Col Gaddafi's forces were using rape as a weapon of war.
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Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-africa-13815393
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