Battles Thunder Over Libyan Town
The New York Times reports:
AJDABIYA, Libya — Military forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi pressed a coordinated ground attack on Ajdabiya on Saturday, bringing the front lines of the battle with the Libyan opposition forces back to the doorstep of this strategically vital rebel city.
Colonel Qaddafi’s forces began the attack late Saturday morning with barrages of rocket and artillery fire aimed at Ajdabiya’s center. Then, as smoke rose and confusion grew, a gun battle began as they sent a contingent of ground troops into the city.
The assault was more determined and organized than the ambushes and exchanges of rocket and artillery fire of recent days. Barrage after barrage of incoming fire thudded and exploded within the city, and loyalist troops advanced behind it. Thick smoke rose and drifted from central Ajdabiya, and by noon doctors were evacuating the city’s hospital as explosions shook the streets.
Many of the rebels fled once again, streaming north up toward Benghazi, the rebel capital, their horns blaring. One rebel fighter shouted at vehicles as they passed: “Qaddafi’s forces are coming! Go! Go! Go!”
But a cadre of lightly armed local residents remained to fight for their homes, stopping the loyalists on Istanbul Street in the city’s center.
“We killed 10 of them,” said Said Halum, who stood in the morgue in the late afternoon over the body of his brother, Abdul Ghadir Halum, who had been shot between the eyes. “Our group split into two groups on Istanbul Street and fought them. The firing was very heavy.”
As the gun battle raged, the main rebel force rallied about 10 miles north of Ajdabiya. By evening, it had begun moving past the city’s northeastern checkpoint, from where the fighters fanned out and briefly re-established a degree of control of Ajdabiya’s eastern and central districts.
Gunfire ebbed in those areas, but skirmishes could be heard on the city’s southern and western sides. Then the barrages started again, leading many rebels to flee anew.
It was a confusing, fast-moving and violent day, with resolve and panic both on display. Brutality was briefly evident, too, in the form of mob rule.
Click here to read more.
