Gaddafi forces pound Misurata again

Libyan leader's forces also opened fire on rebels at the western edge of Ajdabiyah.

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi fired a hail of rockets into the besieged city of Misurata for the second day in a row, killing at least eight people, a local doctor told Al Jazeera. He said seven other civilians, including children and older people, were wounded in the attacks on Friday. Residents told Al Jazeera around 120 rockets pounded the city. Gaddafi's forces also opened fire on rebels on the western edge of Ajdabiyah, killing one, rebel fighters said. A rebel manning an anti-aircraft gun was shot dead and two others were wounded in the attack one kilometre from the western gate of Ajdabiyah, the last major town before the rebel stronghold of Benghazi. "They are in vehicles and they are spread out on foot in the desert. It is very hard to track them," Mansour Rachid, a rebel fighter, told Reuters. "They opened fire on us. We have two wounded and one guy was killed." The latest attacks come a day after rebels warned of an impending "massacre" in Misurata by troops loyal to Gaddafi if NATO doesn't neutralise Libyan leader's forces. Gaddafi's forces launched a heavy attack on the coastal city on Thursday, with dozens of Grad-type rockets hitting the city and killing more than 20 people, a rebel spokesman said. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said that a ship with nearly 1,200 Asian and African migrants, many in bad shape after weeks with little food or water, left Misrata on Friday for rebel-held Benghazi. The chartered Greek vessel, Ionian Spirit, managed to unload 400 tonnes of aid supplies in Misrata overnight despite shelling on Thursday, the IOM said. Libyan officers in Tunisia Meanwhile, two small boats carrying five Libyan army officers and 13 other people from Libya arrived in a southern Tunisian port on Friday, Tunisia's state TAP news agency reported. It did not give any details on the identities or ranks of the officers, or from where in Libya the vessels came from. "Two small boats coming from Libya docked [on] Friday morning at El Ketf port in the province of Ben Guerdane carrying 18 Libyans, including five army officers," TAP said, citing its correspondent in the area.

Source: Al Jazeera