Gaddafi forces attack rebels on Ajdabiyah outskirts

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Civilians flee towards Benghazi from the eastern entrance of Ajdabiyah April 17, 2011. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

By Alexander Dziadosz

AJDABIYAH, Libya | Sun Apr 17, 2011 8:52am EDT

(Reuters) - Rebels came under fire on the outskirts of Ajdabiyah on Sunday, hemming them in to their eastern outpost and denting their hopes of pushing west to try to end a stalemate in the Libyan war.

One witness said he saw around a dozen rockets land around the western entrance to town, which rebels wanted to use as a staging post to retake the oil port of Brega. Many fled the attack as loud explosions boomed across the town.

"There are still some guys out there at the western gate but the situation isn't very good," said Wassim el-Agouri, a 25-year-old rebel volunteer waiting at Ajdabiyah's eastern gate.

Rebels on Saturday made it into the outskirts of Brega, 50 miles to the west, but many fled back to Adjabiyah after six were killed by rockets fired by Gaddafi loyalists on the exposed coastal road joining the two towns.

Sunday marks a month since the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution authorizing force to protect civilians in Libya, leading to an international air campaign.

But despite NATO air strikes against Gaddafi's forces, rebels have been unable to make or hold their gains in weeks of back-and-forth fighting over the coastal towns in eastern Libya.

In western Libya, the rebel-held city of Misrata has been besieged for seven weeks, raising international concern about a growing humanitarian crisis. Hundreds of civilians are believed to have died in fighting and bombing in the city.

A rebel spokesman said that Gaddafi's forces shelled Misrata again on Sunday, killing at least six people. Abdel Basset Mezerik said at least 47 people were also wounded.

The United States, France and Britain said last week they would not stop bombing Gaddafi's forces until he left power.

With NATO troops bogged down in Afghanistan, Western countries have however ruled out sending ground troops -- a position reinforced by the British prime minister on Sunday.

"What we've said is there is no question of invasion or an occupation -- this is not about Britain putting boots on the ground ..." David Cameron told Sky News in an interview.

But he said outside powers would help in every other way to stop Gaddafi "unleashing this hell on people in Misrata" and other towns up and down the Libyan coast, including providing "non-lethal equipment" to the rebels.

The rebels have called repeatedly for heavier arms, saying their machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades are not powerful enough to face the government forces.

"We want weapons, modern weapons," said rebel Ayman Aswey, 21. "If we had those, we could advance against them."

RESIDENTS FLEE AJDABIYAH
With the sound of explosions and machinegun fire echoing across Ajdabiyah from its western gate, scores of rebels and civilian cars carrying men, women and children streamed east from the city toward the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

A sandstorm whipped up during the morning, obscuring the view across the flat expanse of desert. Some rebels said they were laying anti-tank mines near Ajdabiyah's eastern gate.

Days of sporadic clashes on the road west to the oil town of Brega have failed to break a deadlock in the fighting.

Rebel officials said on Saturday that their most experienced soldiers were clashing with Gaddafi's forces on the edge of Brega, but it was not possible to verify that.

The front line is hard to locate because of the hit-and-run style of fighting, long-distance shelling and the growing tendency of Gaddafi's followers to launch outflanking maneuvers and ambush less experienced rebel fighters on the coastal road.

In Misrata, rebels said they have faced daily bombardment from Gaddafi's forces. The U.S.-based rights group Human Rights Watch has also accused Gaddafi's forces of using cluster bombs -- which scatter bomblets over a wide area, increasing civilian casualties. The Libyan government has rejected the allegations.

A resident who arrived in Tunisia on Saturday on board a Medecins Sans Frontieres ship evacuating some of the wounded said the fighting in Misrata was getting worse by the day.

"They are bombing residential areas day and night. It's non-stop and they are using bigger weapons," Ibrahim Ali said in a hospital in Tunisia's port of Sfax. "They bomb roads, houses."

Food was running short and long queues formed outside bakeries. Some streets were fast becoming unrecognizable. "The destruction is total," he said. Asked who was controlling most of the city, Ali said: "It's 50-50. It can change quickly."

(Additional reporting by Mussab Al-Khairalla in Tripoli, Mary-Louise Gumuchian in Sfax and Sami Aboudi in Cairo; Writing by Myra MacDonald; Editing by Alison Williams)