OUTSIDE AJDABIYA: Libyan government forces pulled back 100 kilometers (60 miles) from rebel-held Benghazi but showed they still had plenty of fight as they beat off an insurgent advance Monday.
The forces loyal to Libyan leader Moamer Qaddafi retreated to the key town of Ajdabiya, south of the city of Benghazi, after Western-led air strikes destroyed much of their armor, leaving dozens of wrecked tanks along the road.
But they sent rebels who followed up the withdrawal and were massed in their hundreds outside Ajdabiya fleeing in disarray when they opened up from the town with shell fire from their artillery and remaining tanks.
The rebels had begun advancing from positions some five to 10 kilometers (three to six miles) from Ajdabiya, possibly encouraged by the sound of warplanes overhead, though no aircraft could be seen.
They were accompanied by Katyusha rockets and 12.7 mm anti-aircraft guns mounted on trucks, but the largely amateur fighters took fright as the shells started to fall in the desert alongside the road.
An AFP photographer saw three casualties dead or badly wounded, while vehicles, including ambulances, were damaged by shell splinters and the effects of blast.
Plumes of smoke were seen in the distance, including one that seemed to be inside Ajdabiya, which straddles the road east to Tobruk and the Egyptian border as well as north to Benghazi.
Qaddafi’s forces captured Ajdabiya last week on their drive eastward against the month-old uprising and launched a fierce attack on Benghazi.
But they were halted as French air force fighters in particular strafed them for hours, soon after UN Security Council Resolution 1973 authorized all necessary measures to prevent harm to civilians.
"Even if we have to die, we will enter Ajdabiya today, God willing," rebel fighter Salman Maghrabi said before the rebel advance.
But with their light weapons it was unclear how the insurgents could storm the city, while Qaddafi’s forces inside were at less risk of suffering coalition air attack which could themselves cause civilian casualties.
Captured government tanks and other heavy weaponry which the rebels had paraded in Benghazi on Sunday were nowhere in sight.
Coalition officials said Sunday that following attacks to neutralize Libyan air defenses a no-fly zone was effectively in place over the country, and the rebels, who suffered heavily from bombing and missile strikes by Qaddafi’s air force, now assume that any aircraft is friendly.
"We are asking for more air strikes, more strikes against (Qaddafi’s) people and his airports. We want them to bomb his airports, his heavy tanks," rebel fighter Maghrabi said.
Referring to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, he said, "We kiss his nose, we kiss his shoes."
As for Qaddafi, "We will slit his throat from ear to ear."
