Civilians killed in Misurata fighting

21/04/2011| IslamWeb

At least five civilians have been killed in a day of fierce clashes between pro-government troops and opposition forces in the western city of Misurata.

The fighting in Libya's third largest city on Wednesday follows weeks of clashes that have left hundreds of people dead and threaten to plunge the city into a humanitarian crisis as food and medical supplies dry up.

"Fierce fighting is taking place now on the Nakl el-Thequeel road which leads to the port. Gaddafi forces have been trying to control this road to isolate the city," Abdelsalam, an opposition spokesman, said.

"NATO has been inefficient in Misurata. NATO has completely failed to change things on the ground."

He said "violent fighting" had also erupted on Tripoli Street, a main thoroughfare and another key battleground.

"I'm hearing explosions now. A large number of snipers are positioned there," Abdelsalam said. "Civilians cannot come out for fear of being shot dead."

Journalists killed

Chris Hondros and Tim Hetherington, both photojournalists, also died in the fighting in Misurata, doctors at a hospital in the besieged city said.

The doctors said earlier on Wednesday that Hetherington had died while Hondros was in critical condition. Getty Images later released a statement saying Hondros had died of his injuries. 

Spanish photographer Guillermo Cervera said the group had been trying to leave Tripoli street in Misurata when they came under fire.

Hetherington was an Oscar-nominated filmmaker and photographer from the UK. Hondros, an American, covered major conflicts including Kosovo, Angola, Sierra Leone, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Kashmir, the West Bank, Iraq and Liberia, according to his website.

Eight people were killed in Misurata on Tuesday, mostly civilians, according to pro-democracy forces.

The forces say fighters loyal to Gaddafi have been bombarding the city heavily over the past week. In signs of hardship, there are long queues for petrol and electricity has been cut so residents depend on generators.

Thousands of stranded foreign migrant workers are awaiting rescue in the port area.

The government denies it is attacking civilians in Misurata.

Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the Libyan government's reported use of cluster munitions and heavy weapons in Misurata may amount to a war crime under international law.

Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, the Benghazi-based spokesperson of Libyan Transitional National Council, said that they would not object to the presence of foreign ground forces to protect a safe haven for civilians.

"Protecting civilians requires having safe passages to deliver humanitarian supplies," he said.

"If that [protecting civilians] does not come except through ground forces that will ensure this safe haven, then there is no harm in that at all."

PHOTO CAPTION

Libyan opposition fighters carry out a comrade wounded during an effort to dislodge some ensconced Gaddafi loyalist troops who were firing on them from a building (background) during house-to-house fighting on Tripoli Street in downtown Misrata April 20, 2011 in Misrata, Libya.

Al-Jazeera