Libya Residents and Rebels Flee Ajdabiya
Published on April 8, 2011 by Anil · No Comments
Groups of Libyan rebels and civilians have fled from the eastern town of Ajdabiya after a rebel armored unit was hit by apparent NATO air strikes, allowing government troops to advance.
Families packed into cars and lorries on Thursday and joined rebel military vehicles in a convoy heading northeast towards the de facto opposition capital of Benghazi, around 160km away. Libyan state television claimed that forces loyal to longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi had entered Ajdabiya, but residents said they could see no sign of them.
The retreat began soon after rebel tanks were hit by an air strike around midday near the key oil town of Brega, 80km west of Ajdabiya. Many rebel fighters remained in the town along with doctors at the hospital, after its patients were evacuated to Benghazi as a precaution, Ajdabiya Hospital administrator Majbali Yunis said.
General Abdel Fattah Younes, the rebel military commander, said in Benghazi that four people – two fighters and two medics – were killed in the attack, while 14 were wounded and another six people were missing.
Al Jazeera’s Laurence Lee, reporting from Benghazi, said that after the initial assumption that it must have been a friendly fire incident, a separate story had emerged that maybe it was not a NATO strike. “Maybe it was a light plane, presumably hired by Gaddafi’s forces, which hit the tanks,” he said.
“Whichever way you look at it, it’s not very good for the rebels. Clearly if it was NATO, that demonstrates once again the enormous rift in communication between the rebels and NATO. If NATO says ‘no, it wasn’t us,’ then you can only assume that Gaddafi is getting weaponry and indeed light aircraft from abroad.”
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Tags: anti government, Gaddafi, Libya, Libyan, Military, NATO, people, Rebels, residents, supporters
