Libyan rebels rout Gaddafi forces in strategic town

Libyan rebels backed by allied air strikes retook the strategic town of Ajdabiyah after an all-night battle that suggested the tide was turning against Muammar Gaddafi's forces in the east.

France said its warplanes had destroyed five Libyan and two helicopters on the ground at an air base outside the insurgent- held town of Misrata. Pro-Gaddafi forces had earlier pounded the town with tank, mortar and artillery fire that halted only as coalition aircraft appeared overhead, a rebel told reporters.

One inhabitant said 115 people had been killed in Misrata in a week and snipers were still shooting people from rooftops.

In Ajdabiyah, rebel fighters danced on tanks, waved flags and fired in the air near buildings riddled with bullet holes. Half a dozen wrecked tanks lay near the eastern entrance to the town and the ground was strewn with empty shell casings.

Rebels said fighting had lasted through the night. By the town's western gate there were bodies of more than a dozen Gaddafi fighters, and an abandoned truckload of ammunition suggested Gaddafi forces had beaten a hasty retreat.

"Thank you Britain, thank you France, thank you America," said one rebel, praising Western air strikes against Gaddafi targets.

Capturing Ajdabiyah, a gateway from western Libya to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi and the oil town of Tobruk, was a big morale boost for the rebels a week after coalition air strikes began to enforce a UN-mandated no-fly zone.

Western governments hope the raids, launched with the aim of protecting civilians, will also shift the balance of power in favour of the Arab world's most violent popular revolt.

In Misrata, the only big insurgent stronghold left in Libya's west and cut off from the main rebel force to the east, shelling by Gaddafi's forces fell silent on Saturday when Western coalition planes appeared in the sky, a rebel said.

"The shelling stopped when the planes appeared in the sky," the rebel, called Saadoun, said by telephone.

"It seems his (Gaddafi's) focus now is Misrata," he said.

"He pulled his forces out of Ajdabiyah and Brega so that he puts all his weight in attacking Misrata and winning so he can control the whole west versus losing the whole east."

Ealier, Saadoun told reporters Gaddafi forces had attacked the city from the west and the east, shelling the port with mortars and artillery, and sending tanks along a coastal road.

Misrata, Libya's third-largest city, has been encircled and under bombardment for weeks, but Western aircraft and missiles have been increasing their raids on government positions there.

Reports from Misrata could not be independently verified.

The Pentagon said there had been air strikes overnight from Friday to Saturday at Libyan targets but no Tomahawk missiles.

"Aircraft strikes included fixed targets and maneuver forces along the coastline and near the cities of Tripoli, Misrata and Ajdabiyah," said Captain Darryn James, a Pentagon spokesman.