Libyan wounded describe 'hell' of Misrata

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi are staging a "massacre" in the besieged city of Misrata, evacuees said on Monday, as Turkey said it was trying to broker a cease-fire to halt the bloodshed. With Libya in chaos as Qadhafi's troops battle rebels, an official in neighbouring Algeria said al Qaeda was exploiting the conflict to acquire weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, and smuggle them to a stronghold in northern Mali.
Evacuees from Misrata described the city as hell, with Qadhafi's forces using tanks and snipers against residents, littering the streets with corpses and filling hospitals with the wounded. "You have to visit Misrata to see the massacre by Qadhafi," said Omar Boubaker, a 40-year-old engineer with a bullet wound to the leg, brought to the Tunisian port of Sfax by a French aid group. "Corpses are in the street. Hospitals are overflowing."
Misrata, the last major rebel-held city in western Libya, rose up with other towns against Qadhafi in mid-February, and is now under attack by government troops. "I could live or die, but I am thinking of my family and friends who are stranded in the hell of Misrata," said tearful evacuee Abdullah Lacheeb, who had serious injuries to his pelvis and stomach and a bullet wound in his leg.
"Imagine, they use tanks against civilians. He (Qadhafi) is prepared to kill everyone there ... I am thinking of my family." Stalemate on the frontline of fighting in eastern Libya, defections from Qadhafi's circle and the plight of civilians caught in fighting, or facing food and fuel shortages, have prompted a flurry of diplomacy to try to end the civil war.
Turkey said it was seeking to broker a cease-fire as an envoy from Qadhafi's government arrived in Ankara from Athens. Turkey was also in contact with the opposition's National Council, and expected representatives to visit Ankara "in the coming days", Davutoglu told a news conference. A Turkish Foreign Ministry official said both sides had "conveyed that they have some opinions about a possible cease-fire".