Fighting erupts anew around Libya battleground town

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Fierce fighting erupted afresh around the battleground Libyan crossroads town of Ajdabiya on Thursday, an AFP correspondent has reported.

A convoy of some 60 rebel vehicles at a staging point west of the city recaptured from loyalist fighters at the weekend came under heavy artillery and mortar fire, prompting a salvo of rockets in riposte.

The positions of the loyalists of veteran strongman Muammar Gaddafi appeared to be north of the main highway to the oil refinery town of Brega on the central Mediterranean coast, suggesting an attempt by government forces to outflank the rebel fighters.

The rebels immediately rushed reinforcements to the front line between their territory in the east and the mainly government-held west.

The AFP correspondent counted some 100 rebel vehicles heading to the front. No aircraft from the NATO-led air operation were immediately seen.