Rebels retake key town

Mar 27, 2011 - Angus MacSwan |

Reuters

AJDABIYAH (Libya)

Libyan rebels backed by allied air strikes retook the strategic town of Ajdabiyah on Saturday after an all-night battle that suggested the tide is turning against Muammar Gaddafi’s forces in the east.

Western warplanes bombed the outskirts of Misrata further west to stop Gaddafi forces shelling the city, a rebel spokesman said. One inhabitant said 115 people had died in Misrata in a week and snipers were still shooting people from rooftops.
In Ajdabiyah, rebels danced on tanks, waved flags and fired in the air near buildings riddled with bulletholes.
Half-a-dozen wrecked tanks lay near the eastern entrance to the town and the ground was strewn with empty shell casings. Rebels said fighting had lasted through the night.
By the town’s western gate there were bodies of more than a dozen Gaddafi fighters and an abandoned truckload of ammunition suggested Gaddafi forces had beaten a hasty retreat.
—Reuters

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