Brega: Muammar Gaddafi's regime struck back at its opponents Friday, launching a powerful attack on the closest opposition-held city to Tripoli and firing tear gas and live ammunition to smother new protests in the capital. At least 37 people died in fighting and in an explosion at an ammunitions depot in Libya's rebellious east, reports AP.
The Libyan army has staged a prolonged artillery barrage on the city of Zawiya, west of Tripoli, and there have been many casualties, a spokesman for the revolutionaries said.
"There has been heavy shelling of Zawiya by [Muammar] Gaddafi's forces and we are hearing of many casualties. How many, I don't know," Mustafa Gheriani, a spokesman for the rebel February 17th Coalition, said.
Reuters reported that more than 30 people were killed while Al Jazeera put the death toll at 50.
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Libyan state television has claimed that Zawiya was back under government control.
Meanwhile, revolutionaries yesterday claimed to have captured the strategic city of Ras Lanoof as pro-Gaddafi forces carried out airstrikes in several nearby cities hoping to ward off advancing revolutionary forces who have their eye on the capital Tripoli, Gaddafi's stronghold.
Gulf News spoke with a man who was guarding the oil refinery in Brega, a nearby city, who said that the airstrikes "seemed to avoid sensitive areas on purpose" either to avoid killing people or just to intimidate the revolutionary fighters, he speculated.
Oil refineries
However, in Ras Lanoof four people were killed after an airstrike hit near an oil compound.
"The plan is to edge slowly, slowly towards them to pressure them to back off. We don't want to fight, we want to pressure them psychologically," Colonel Bashir Abdul Kadir told AFP.
Brega and Ras Lanoof are important because of their oil refineries and the city of Ajdabiya has a key road junction.
Meanwhile, Interpol has issued an orange alert against Gaddafi and 15 others, including members of his family and close associates. Orange or red notices are not arrest warrants in themselves but are issued to help countries track down illegal assets or suspects wanted for extradition.
The warrant says Gaddafi and his associates were "involved in or complicit in planning attacks, including aerial bombardments, on civilian populations."
The move will give a boost to the International Criminal Court investigating Gaddafi's alleged crimes against humanity in Libya.
