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Gaddafi forces
using tanks and snipers are carrying out a “massacre” in Misrata with
corpses on the streets and hospitals full of the wounded, evacuees
said, with one describing the besieged city as “hell”.

Misrata, Libya’s
third city, rose up with other towns against Muammar Gaddafi’s rule in
mid-February, and it is now under attack by government troops after a
violent crackdown put an end to most protests elsewhere in the west of
the country.

“You have to visit
Misrata to see the massacre by Gaddafi,” 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.” Stalemate on the frontline of
fighting in eastern Libya, defections from Gaddafi’s inner circle and
the plight of civilians caught in fighting or facing food and fuel
shortages prompted a flurry of diplomatic contacts to find a solution
to the civil war.

But the evacuees from Misrata had more immediate concerns.

“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 (Gaddafi) is prepared to kill everyone
there … I am thinking of my family.” Swathed in bandages, evacuees
gave some of the most detailed accounts yet of conditions in Misrata,
the last major rebel-held city in western Libya which recalled sieges
of town and cities in the Bosnian conflict.

U.N.-mandated air
strikes to protect civilians have so far failed to halt attacks by the
Libyan army, which residents said stationed snipers on rooftops and
fired mortars and artillery at populated areas of the city with
devastating effect.

Libyan officials
deny attacking civilians in Misrata, saying they are fighting armed
gangs linked to al Qaeda. Accounts from Misrata cannot be independently
verified as Libyan authorities are not allowing journalists to report
freely from there.

A rebel spokesman said the city was shelled on Monday.

“The shelling
started in the early hours of the morning and it’s continuing, using
mortars and artillery. This is pure terrorism. The shelling is
targeting residential areas,” the spokesman, called Gemal, told Reuters
by telephone, adding:

“We know there are casualties but I don’t know how many.”

Thousands left behind

A Turkish ship that
sailed into Misrata to rescue 250 wounded was protected by Turkish
warplanes and warships and had to leave in a hurry after thousands
pressed forward on the dock, pleading to be evacuated.

Another ship
operated by Medecins Sans Frontieres docked in Sfax in Tunisia with 71
wounded from Misrata. Many had bullet wounds and broken limbs. One
person’s face was totally disfigured by burns.

Fears of a massacre
in Misrata are helping to propel efforts this week to try and secure a
ceasefire in the North African oil-producing desert state. Sfax echoed
to the sound of sirens as a stream of ambulances ferried the wounded to
hospital.

“We cannot do
anything against this massacre any more. We ask the Americans and the
Europeans to put people on the ground and help us end these crimes,”
said another injured man, Imed.

REUTERS