The sun had just set on Misurata when 24-year-old Hadija al Swehli and her family realised pro-Gaddafi troops had penetrated the safe boundaries of their compound.

The extended family that lived in the large compound knew fighting had broken out nearby, but had not realised there was a massive tank on their doorstep, because it was being pushed by a bulldozer to dampen the sound.

“I had visited my family three days earlier and saw the fighters outside, but I knew my father would not leave. I was worried about my mother and sisters because I heard what they were doing to the women,” said Ahmed, one of the brothers.

As the Gaddafi loyalists forced their way into the house the large family, with children as young as seven months, scrambled into an underground room for safety.

The father and brother had gone out for food, but returned when they heard the forces were so close to the house.

After taking his family to the room, Muftah, an uncle, ran back to his house on the other side of the compound to gather papers proving the family’s relation to Ramadan al Swehli, a well-known Libyan Muslim resistance leader who had fought against Italian colonisation.

In their panicked state, the family members did not initially notice Muftah was missing, and left the house without him, but as soon as they realised two of them turned back to rescue their uncle.

As they ran back to his house, they banged on the door and urged him to open up. They quickly scrambled out of the compound and the three men jumped over the neighbour’s walls to safety.

They then joined the rest of the family in a house in Benghazi Street, at the centre of the city, where they remained for two weeks until the area was safe.

“We were so scared at the time, but we somehow managed to get away,” Hadija said.

Two weeks later, when The Sunday Times joined the family at the large compound, the place was scarred with loyalists’ bullets. Locks, fridges, doors and televisions were riddled with holes.

Four-year-old Monya in her little pink dress followed us barefoot, happily stopping to pose for pictures. With a frown on her face, she pointed at the holes in the television and fridge.

“They broke in and shot the locks – look at the door,” Hadija exclaimed.

Mhanya, the family horse, had bullets lodged in her back and legs.

“Before she was beautiful and strong, but now she is always hungry and unhealthy,” she said.

Although evidently scarred by the ordeal, the al Swehli family could be considered lucky compared with others in Misurata. Around 10,000 people are estimated to have died there alone.

Even within the same family, the war has left deeper scars. Ahmed and Hadija’s brother-in-law went missing in the uprising, when he left for al Daphnia at the beginning of April to look for the rest of his family.

“When he left the baby was only nine months old, he was crawling. Now he is walking and his father missed his first steps,” Ahmed said.

The family are searching for him with the help of Red Cross.