Battles rage in western Libya flashpoints

Fighting between Muammar Gaddafi’s forces and Libyan insurgents raged yesterday across swaths of western Libya, with casualties reported in Zintan and Zawiyah as rebels went on the offensive.

Battles were also being fought in the Berber mountains southwest of Tripoli, in nearby Yafran, and at Dafnia near Misrata, Libya’s third city, rebel sources said.

Tribal fighters opposed to Colonel Gaddafi, meanwhile, have also clashed with his forces in the oasis city of Sabha – a first since the outbreak of an uprising against him in mid-February.An AFP correspondent said Col Gaddafi’s forces pounded the outskirts of Zintan yesterday, killing at least seven rebels.Government forces posted a few kilometres east of Zintan, which remains under rebel control, fired Grad and Katyusha rockets at the town.

The AFP reporter said after visiting the local hospital that at least seven Libyan rebels were killed and 49 wounded in the bombardment.

Tension were also high in the area between Zintan and Yafran, a region bitterly contested by rebels and loyalist troops, the correspondent said.

Yafran and Qalah were both rubble-strewn and deserted, with homes looted, the correspondent said.Hospital staff in Yafran, on condition of anonymity, said foreign doctors were prevented from leaving by pro-Gaddafi forces, who allegedly detained and beat up some employees.The fighting in Zawiyah just 50 kilometres west of Tripoli, which follows more than two months of relative calm in the city of 250,000 people, erupted on Saturday, a rebel source said in Benghazi.