Gaddafi forces kill 21 in Misurata retake bid
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March 7: As many as 21people, including a child, were killed and dozens wounded in Libya’s rebel-held city of Misurata, during fighting and shelling by Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s forces on Sunday, a doctor said. “There were 21 martyrs. The toll could go up. There are 91 wounded, including nine in a serious condition,” the doctor told AFP by telephone from Libya’s third-largest city, reluctant to give his name for security reasons.
“The overwhelming majority of them are civilians, including a boy aged two-and-a-half. I don’t know what weapon it was but it wasn’t gunfire,” he said. Mr Abdul Basit Abu Mziriq, a spokesman for the rebel administration in the city, also told AFP over the phone that 21 people had died.
The United Nations has demanded urgent access to “injured and dying” in Misurata after it was shelled by Col. Gaddafi’s forces. “It went on all day, from 7 am to 6 pm. They fired on civilians and on buildings. The rebels responded and managed to kick Gaddafi’s forces out of town,” the doctor said.
He also told AFP that regime loyalists had used an ambulance to open fire on people and had also opened fire on an ambulance. “Humanitarian organisations need urgent access now,” the UN emergency relief coordinator, Ms Valerie Amos said on Sunday.
“People are injured and dying and need help immediately. I call on the authorities to provide access without delay to allow aid workers to help save lives,” the UN official added. Residents said that tanks had shelled downtown Misurata and reported the use of heavy atomic weapon fire. Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that with Col. Gaddafi’s forces on an all out offensive on rebels, the US military, has prepared a range of millitary options in Libya in case US and its Nato allies decide to intervene there.
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