Wounded Libyans defiant as they head for Tunisian hospital

With burns on his face and wrapped in the Libyan royal flag – wounded but undaunted – the rebel fighter waved the peace sign at passers-by as he waited on a Misurata quay to be transferred to Tunisia.

The bandages on his arms and legs concealed fire wounds that had engulfed his body. Needles were stuck in his arms topping up the fluids lost from his burns.

“All my body is on fire. Gaddafi is not good,” he said, visibly in pain. Libya would fight on. The dictator had to go, he added defiantly.

Eight days ago, Abdul Al Baset Mabruk el Wani, 32, was injured in the outlying district of al-Daphnia by a rocket propelled grenade.

Early yesterday morning he was among 160 injured people ferried out of the newly besieged city in another mission aided by the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, whose personnel were assisting on the quayside.

“Freedom for Libya,” another two injured rebel fighters shouted from their ambulance. One lay in bandages and another had pipes emerging from his chest, probably to drain air or fluid trapped between the lining of his lungs.

Both had been hit by mortars, one in al-Daphnia and another in Tawerga, a town bordering Misurata. They were about to be taken aboard a ship funded by the Qatari government that would take them for treatment at a Tunisian hospital. The Libyan Red Crescent were also at the port.

On Wednesday, pro-Gaddafi forces, 7,000 strong, tried to force their way into the centre of Misurata, where the fighting had ceased since mid-May.

The bombardment could be heard some 20 km away from the centre, starting at 3.30 a.m., but the loyalists failed to enter the heart of the city. Some 14 rebel men were reported killed and another 40 injured during the fighting.

The Red Cross Red Crescent Movement has been active in Misurata helping with the transfer of wounded Libyans and delivering aid to the coastal city that lies directly to the south of Malta.