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| Africa North | ||
| Rebels clean up Ajdabiyah | ||
| 2011-04-12 | ||
| AJDABIYAH, Libya - Libyan rebels cleared charred bodies and the shells of pick-up trucks from the strategic eastern town of Ajdabiyah on Monday, a day after they pushed out troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi in a fierce battle. Helped by NATO air strikes, opposition fighters took full control of the town, about 150 km (90 miles) from their coastal stronghold of Benghazi, after battling Gaddafi loyalists with rockets and machine guns on Saturday and Sunday. NATO says it destroyed 11 of Gaddafi's tanks outside Ajdabiyah on Libya's Mediterranean coast.
Rocket fire from Gaddafi's forces fell short of Ajdabiyah's western gate and rebels fired a rocket back. Medics at the town hospital said two rebels were wounded in skirmishes west of al-Arbaeen, half way to Brega, but fighting later died down. Many insurgents praised French President Nicolas Sarkozy rather than NATO for the air strikes. Sarkozy led calls for military intervention in Libya and French warplanes were the first to attack Gaddafi's forces. He is a hero among the rebels. At the town's green western gate, rebels gathered near the site of a NATO air strike to bundle the blackened and mangled bodies of Gaddafi fighters into blankets and drag them into the desert for burial. "These are Gaddafi's men who died during Sarkozy's air strikes yesterday," one rebel said. Another, Muftah Jadallah, said the insurgents had buried around 35 bodies of Gaddafi soldiers killed in the bombing and street fighting in the town. Standing at a strategic junction on the road to Benghazi, Ajdabiyah would be a major prize for Gaddafi. It is scarred by repeated battles and most residents have fled. Homes and public buildings are pockmarked with machine gun and artillery fire, windows are shattered and graffiti is sprayed liberally across town. But the streets were quiet. "Ajdabiyah has become a ghost town," Mohamed el-Qubaily, a 45-year-old engineer, said as he stood next to the twisted wreckage of a rebel pick-up hit by rocket fire on Sunday. "When the bombardment started, everyone left." Like many others, Qubaily said he had moved his wife and six children to Benghazi, but was staying behind to look after his property. "I'm staying to defend my house," he said, pointing to a pistol tucked into his belt. Essam Mohamed, another rebel standing near the wreckage, said he would also stay in Ajdabiyah, keeping up the fight as long as Gaddafi was still in power. It will take time," he said. "He's a very strong man, very strong." The hospital, which had buzzed with frantic activity during the fighting, was nearly silent. The main hotel in town was shuttered, several of its windows shattered by gunfire. Ajdabiyah has seen some of the most ferocious fighting of the armed revolt which began when Gaddafi crushed pro-democracy protests in February. In the first days, protesters torched many government buildings and covered its walls with spray paint. Two subsequent battles for the town have left its streets and outskirts littered with the remains of tanks, pickup trucks, rocket launchers and other military hardware. Some rebels seemed more upbeat and confident than for weeks, savouring victory in Ajdabiyah after a long struggle for control of the oil port of Brega, 70 km (45 miles) west. "Gaddafi won't enter Ajdabiyah again," said Nasser Ibrahim, a rebel at the western gate. "Our forces are surrounding the city, even the south." But others thought Gaddafi's better armed and trained forces would eventually make another attempt to claim the town, connected by a desert highway to Tobruk, a vital oil exporting port for the rebels. "Gaddafi has fast desert cars and Grad missiles," said engineer Qubaily, shrugging as some insurgents swept the last of the battle debris from Ajdabiyah's main street. "This has been a strategic city throughout history," he said. "Since the days of the Romans, the Byzantines, the Greeks, the Italians, the English, the Americans -- a lot of armies have been here." | ||
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 NATO must have some air combat coordinators on the ground... I recall one of the rebels saying "If we see western forces on the ground we will stop fighting Gadaffy and we will all turn our guns on them." My, what a difference a couple of weeks of getting your butt kicked can make. |
| Posted by: gorb 2011-04-12 10:24 |