Libyan refugees flee fighting by land and sea
Fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi is forcing thousands of refugees to flee western Libya on foot to the Tunisian border and by boat to Europe, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
Rebels said that over 40 Grad rockets had hit the rebel-held town of Zintan in the Western Mountains late on Tuesday, and aid deliveries to the western port of Misrata have been hindered by artillery fire and mines near the harbor entrance.
Rebel spokesmen said fighting had flared again in Misrata’s eastern suburbs, but that intense air strikes by NATO planes appeared to have won the port, the city’s lifeline, a respite in shelling by forces loyal to the Libyan leader.
In Tripoli, witnesses heard two loud explosions late on Tuesday but there was no explanation of their cause.
Gaddafi, who seized power in a 1969 coup, has not been seen in public since a NATO missile attack on Saturday on a house in Tripoli, which killed his youngest son and three grandchildren.
Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said Gaddafi was alive and in good health and had “not at all” been hurt in the NATO strike. “He met today a number of tribal leaders,” Kaim said.
Doesn’t Gaddafi have a funeral or several to attend? (And I don’t mean for OBL. I mean for his dead family members).
Funny how things distract one.