Khadafy steps up attacks in mountains

May 19, 2011|Associated Press

TRIPOLI, Libya — Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy’s forces intensified their campaign to take strategic heights in a western mountain range and targeted a road that many people have used to flee the fighting in Libya, forcing the temporary closure of a border crossing to Tunisia.

Much of the fighting centered around the town of Yafrin, and residents and rebel fighters said yesterday that Khadafy forces were using Grad missiles and rockets.

In nearby Zintan, however, rebels repelled an advance by Khadafy’s forces, killing eight and taking one prisoner, a local activist said.

To the west of the contested Nafusa mountain range, which is home to ethnic Berbers, Libyan shelling forced the closure Tuesday of the Wazen passage, a route that people fleeing Libya have used to get to neighboring Tunisia. Jaber Naluti, a volunteer in the area, said seven rebels were killed.

Reports from the area said some of the shells fell inside Tunisia. Tunisian jets flew over the area but didn’t fire, witnesses said. They said the passage reopened yesterday.

Although Khadafy’s forces control most of the west, rebels have linked up with the minority Berbers to keep his forces out of the highest points of the Nafusa mountains, denying them a military advantage.

Khadafy, who has ruled for more than 40 years, has been trying to put down an uprising that began in February to try to remove him from power.