Libyan rebels on the run as air strikes resume

AJDABIYA (Libya), March 30: Libyan rebels were driven back some 200 kilometres by the superior firepower of Moamer Qadhafi`s forces on Wednesday in a chaotic stampede which saw them yield most of the ground their recent advances had secured. But the first air strike in two days against loyalist positions in the east brought them some cause for celebration. A spokesman for the rebels played down allegations by a top Nato commander that there may be Al Qaeda fighters in their ranks, but said his fighters had come up against a force of thousands of Chadian Republican Guards. Colonel Ahmed Bani told reporters in the rebel stronghold Benghazi: "If there are any Libyans who were associated with Al Qaeda around the world and are now in Libya, they are fighting on behalf of Libya. If," he emphasised. Of the hasty retreat, he said: "We found that the best response was a tactical retreat until we can develop a better strategy for confronting this force." There were between 3,200 and 3,600 heavily armed troops, he said and claimed to have "three sources" for the presence of the foreign soldiers. Qadhafi`s forces overran the towns of Ras Lanuf, Uqayla and Brega, rebels reported, scattering the outgunned insurgents as world powers mulled arming the rag-tag fighters seeking to oust the Libyan strongman. Reporters and rebel fighters said Kadhafi`s troops swept through the oil town of Ras Lanuf, 300 kilometres east of Qadhafi`s hometown Sirte, soon after dawn, blazing away with tanks and heavy artillery fire. But later, an air strike about 10kms west of Ajdabiya, where rebels are sheltering, sent a huge plume of smoke rising into the sky and brought cries of jubilation from the rebel fighters, who had been calling for renewed air support. Panicked rebels called for air strikes as they fled in their hundreds eastwards through Uqayla, where they briefly regrouped, then on to Brega, where they also halted temporarily before charging to the main city of Ajdabiya, 120 kilometres away. "We want two things: that the planes drop bombs on Qadhafi`s tanks and heavy artillery; and that they (the West) give us weapons so we can fight," rebel fighter Yunes Abdelghaim said. The 27-year-old said it seemed as if the coalition had halted its air strikes for two days coinciding with a London conference on the Libyan crisis.—AFP