Muammar Gaddafi’s forces attack-ed the key port in the besieged Libyan city of Misrata with rockets yesterday, wounding refugees, as Nato said it may send an envoy to the rebel capital of Benghazi.
Several Grad rockets hit the port 12 kilometres east of the city and an International Organisation for Migration (IOM) ship that had come to rescue refugees stood offshore as a precaution, an AFP journalist said.
The attack came after a lull in fighting as rebels in Misurata said they pushed forces loyal to Col Gaddafi out of the city, although the Libyan strongman remained defiant despite Nato bombing his compound.
A Nato spokesman told AFP in Brussels, meanwhile, that the alliance may send a civilian “contact point” to the eastern city of Benghazi in order to improve political contacts with the opposition.
In Misurata, the rebels’ last bastion in western Libya 215 kilometres from Tripoli, doctor Khalid Abu Falra at the city’s main hospital said “several refugees were wounded by the bombardment”.
He added that “there may be deaths – we have no details for the moment,” as Nato warplanes overflew the rebel-held city where explosions were also heard after a 24-hour period of relative calm.
Witnesses said the aircraft launched at least one ground strike.
“Nato asked that the IOM boat leave the port,” said a rebel source, adding that “around 20 vehicles” containing Gaddafi loyalists were approaching.
Yesterday’s Grad attack came as a minibus containing seven Western journalists and four Libyan escorts was at the port, and three nearby blasts caused them to dive for cover beneath the vehicle.
In Benghazi, the opposition Transitional National Council said the rebels still controlled Misurata despite being surrounded and bombed by Col Gaddafi’s forces.
“The situation in Misurata remains grave. The revolutionaries are in control but they remain surrounded and bombed,” TNC spokesman Jalal al-Gallal told AFP.
Misurata remains besieged by Col Gaddafi’s troops to the east, south and west, with its only access to the outside world by sea. The badly damaged airport is in regime hands, according to the rebels. The port has therefore been a strategic conduit for international humanitarian aid, as well as rebel fighter reinforcements and guns and ammunition from their Benghazi stronghold.
Col Gaddafi remains defiant despite Nato bombing his Tripoli compound and military sites, including in his birthplace of Sirte.
“The leader is working from Tripoli. The leader is well, is very healthy, is leading the battle for peace and democracy in Libya,” regime spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said outside the bombed building at Col Gaddafi’s Bab al-Aziziya residence.
A meeting room facing Col Gaddafi’s office was badly damaged in what Nato in Brussels said was “a precision strike” on a communications centre early on Monday.
Three people were killed and 45 wounded – 15 seriously – in the air strike, Mr Ibrahim said.
Nato said it struck an intelligence complex in Tripoli on Monday, one tank, three surface-to-air missile launchers, infantry fighting vehicles, a rocket launcher and a vehicle depot. It also bombed a surface-to-air missile training facility near Misurata, while in Sirte it bombed three ammunition depots.