Rebels have repulsed a counter-offensive by forces loyal to Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi southwest of Tripoli, after NATO warplanes blitzed his war machine in the capital. Gaddafi’s forces attacked the western desert hamlet of Gualish on Sunday and shelled the region before pulling back under rebel rocket fire as NATO warplanes flew overhead, an AFP correspondent reported.
Three hours of intense fighting ensued and at least two people were wounded.
Rebels in Gualish said they had prevented regime forces from getting within at least a kilometre (less than a mile) of the hamlet, and that they had been reinforced from Zintan, their main base in western Libya.
The insurgents, who have been fighting to oust Gaddafi since mid-February, recaptured Gualish earlier this month and are planning to use it as a launch pad for a western assault on the regime’s Tripoli stronghold.
They said their campaign to attack Tripoli from the east has been slowed by efforts to remove an estimated 45,000 land mines from around Brega, a process hampered by a lack of specialised kit.
“We have no choice. We have to clear the sand of mines,” Mohammed Zawawy, a spokesman for the Union of Revolutionary Forces in Ajdabiya, told AFP. The mine problem had sapped some momentum from the campaign to clear Brega of loyalists, although the rebels said Sunday they captured one soldier and sent scores more fleeing west to Bishir village on the road to Ras Lanuf.
Rebels have captured between 10 and 20 regime troops since they seized Brega on July 18, he said, adding one prisoner claimed loyalist fighters had sown “over 45,000 mines” around the Mediterranean town.
