BERLIN: The United States resisted pressure Thursday to return its warplanes to the frontline in Libya even as NATO vowed to keep bombing Moamer Qadhafi's forces and pressed the strongman to quit.
As NATO foreign ministers meeting in Berlin struggled to heal a rift over the mission, rebels said Qadhafi forces fired missiles and tank shells on Libya's besieged city of Misrata, killing 13 people and wounding 50.
The ministers issued a joint statement calling on Qadhafi to leave power, and they vowed to maintain "a high operational tempo" against regime targets and "exert this pressure as long as necessary."
Despite the show of unity, the allies remained divided over French and British calls to intensify the pace of the bombing campaign and contribute more jets to the mission. Nearly a month of coalition strikes has failed to shift the balance of power so far.
Washington pulled back around 50 combat planes from Libyan operations last week after handing over control of the mission to NATO, although since then they took part in some missions to take our Qadhafi's air defence systems.
With nearly 100,000 US troops fighting a grinding war in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama's administration decided to move into a back-up role in Libya and leave the fighting to its European and Canadian allies.
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