Qadhafi forces storm western rebel outpost

Muammar Qadhafi's forces stormed the western rebel outpost of Misrata with tanks and artillery on Friday, a Libyan rebel spokesman said, while insurgents marshalled defences in their eastern heartland. A rebel leader speaking after talks with a UN envoy in Benghazi in the east offered a cease-fire on condition Qadhafi left Libya and his forces quit cities now under government control.
It was unclear if the offer was part of diplomatic moves to end a conflict that appears largely deadlocked. Rebels speaking from Misrata said Qadhafi's forces had brought their superior firepower to bear on the insurgents' last western enclave with an intense bombardment.
"They used tanks, rocket-propelled grenades, mortar rounds and other projectiles to hit the city today. It was random and very intense bombardment," the spokesman, called Sami, told Reuters by telephone. "We no longer recognise the place. The destruction cannot be described.
"The pro- Qadhafi soldiers who made it inside the city through Tripoli Street are pillaging the place, the shops, even homes, and destroying everything in the process." The account from Misrata, Libya's third biggest city 200 km (130 miles) east of Tripoli, could not be verified. Authorities do not allow journalists to report freely from the city.
A doctor in Misrata told Reuters in an email that the 32nd Brigade, one of the best-equipped and trained units, had been sent to seize control of the city. "So the question is where is the international community?" he said. Qadhafi, who has ruled Libya since taking power in a coup in 1969, describes the rebels as terrorists and Western agents. He accuses Nato-led air forces, operating under a UN mandate, of killing huge numbers of civilians in bombing raids.
BBC television quoted a Libyan doctor as saying a coalition air strike had killed seven civilians, mostly children, and wounded another 25 near the oil town of Brega on Wednesday. Heavy gunfire rang out near Qadhafi's fortified compound in Tripoli for about 20 minutes before dawn and residents said they saw snipers on rooftops and heard distant chanting or shouting.