Gaddafi's forces continue pressing Libyan rebels

Almaty. April 18. Kazakhstan Today - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces on Sunday continued their bombardment of rebels in several cities including the eastern town of Ajdabiyah and the western city of Misrata, Kazakhstan Today reports.

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi kept up an offensive on the rebels' eastern frontline outpost of Ajdabiyah, while the West again ruled out sending ground troops to help the rebel cause, Reuters reported.

One witness said he saw around a dozen rockets land near the western entrance to Ajdabiyah, which rebels wanted to use as a staging post to retake the oil port of Brega. Many fled on Sunday 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.

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

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

With NATO troops bogged down in Afghanistan, Western countries have 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.

Ajdabiyah's streets were almost deserted by mid-afternoon and rebels barricaded the roads with concrete blocks, tree branches and anything else they could find.

Rebel pick-ups patrolled the streets and men took up positions across the town with machineguns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Others returned to positions at the western gate with their weapons pointed west and south into the desert.

Some rebels on Saturday made it into the outskirts of Brega, 50 miles to the west, but many others retreated to Ajdabiyah after six were killed by rockets fired by Gaddafi loyalists on the exposed coastal road joining the two towns.

By Sunday, scores of volunteer fighters and civilian cars carrying men, women and children streamed east from Ajdabiyah up the coast road toward Benghazi, where the popular revolt against Gaddafi's 41-year rule began on February 17.

In western Libya, the rebel-held city of Misrata has been under government siege for seven weeks, leading to a growing humanitarian crisis. Hundreds of civilians are believed to have been killed in the fighting and shelling of the city.

A rebel spokesman said Gaddafi's forces bombarded 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, although when or if that would happen was unclear.

The rebels pushed hundreds of kilometres toward the capital Tripoli in late March after foreign warplanes began bombing Gaddafi's positions to protect civilians, but proved unable to hold territory and were pushed back as far as Ajdabiyah.

Earlier on Sunday a sandstorm obscured the flat expanse of desert stretching west from Ajdabiyah to Brega. Rebel Ahmed al-Zuwaihi blamed the weather for a lack of NATO air strikes.

NATO warplanes instead bombed the area of Al-Hira, 50 km (30 miles) southwest of the capital Tripoli and also hit the city of Sirte, Libyan state television said. Bursts of anti-aircraft fire were heard in Tripoli on Sunday evening.

In Misrata, rebels say they have faced daily bombardment from Gaddafi's forces. The U.S.- based rights group Human Rights Watch has 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 rebel spokesman, called Abdelsalam, said there was fighting around Misrata's main thoroughfare Tripoli Street.

The Libyan government blames militants allied to al Qaeda for the fighting. Foreign Minister Abdelati Obeidi held talks with U.N. envoy Abdelilah Al-Khatib in Tripoli and condemned "the unjustified crusader colonial aggression on Libya."

He said Libya was ready to comply with U.N. resolutions to implement a ceasefire and allow the delivery of humanitarian aid, according to the Jana state news agency.

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