ZAWIYAH - Libyan rebels took control of an oil refinery in the western town of Zawiyah and blocked the main highway north to the capital yesterday, further isolating Muammar Gaddafi's Tripoli stronghold.
Rebel advances in recent days have cut Gaddafi's forces off from their main supply routes after a months-long stalemate, putting the Libyan leader's 41-year rule under unprecedented pressure.
Small groups of rebel fighters occupied the inside of the Zawiyah refinery complex, about 50km west of Tripoli on the highway linking Tripoli to Tunisia, with no sign of the pro-Gaddafi forces that had battled for the plant for days.
Doctors at a hospital, a few kilometres south of Zawiyah, said nine people were killed and at least 45 injured in fighting around the town and at the refinery on Wednesday, most of them rebels, and said pro-Gaddafi forces had hit a house near the hospital with Grad rockets.
Rebels also controlled the town of Garyan, which sits about 80km south of Tripoli on the main highway, a Reuters reporter there said, and that rebels had placed a T-34 tank and an anti-aircraft gun taken from Gaddafi forces in the main square.
"We took one tank and an anti-aircraft gun from Gaddafi's forces. Next, we will go to Tripoli," one of the fighters, who called himself Mohammad, said.
A spokesperson for Gaddafi played down recent rebel gains and said the government remained in control of the country.
"This is a crisis that will last a few days and then it will be - God willing - overcome," Mussa Ibrahim said in remarks carried by Jananews agency yesterday.
"We will push ahead until we liberate the whole country."
Aided by Nato bombers, assault helicopters and a naval blockade, the rebels have transformed the battle in the last few days after many weeks of stalemate.
The US also deployed two more Predator drones for surveillance operations over Libya, a US official said on Wednesday.
It was unclear how many drones the US already had over the country.
Libyan rebels seize western oil refinery
ZAWIYAH - Libyan rebels took control of an oil refinery in the western town of Zawiyah and blocked the main highway north to the capital yesterday, further isolating Muammar Gaddafi's Tripoli stronghold.
Rebel advances in recent days have cut Gaddafi's forces off from their main supply routes after a months-long stalemate, putting the Libyan leader's 41-year rule under unprecedented pressure.
Small groups of rebel fighters occupied the inside of the Zawiyah refinery complex, about 50km west of Tripoli on the highway linking Tripoli to Tunisia, with no sign of the pro-Gaddafi forces that had battled for the plant for days.
Doctors at a hospital, a few kilometres south of Zawiyah, said nine people were killed and at least 45 injured in fighting around the town and at the refinery on Wednesday, most of them rebels, and said pro-Gaddafi forces had hit a house near the hospital with Grad rockets.
Rebels also controlled the town of Garyan, which sits about 80km south of Tripoli on the main highway, a Reuters reporter there said, and that rebels had placed a T-34 tank and an anti-aircraft gun taken from Gaddafi forces in the main square.
"We took one tank and an anti-aircraft gun from Gaddafi's forces. Next, we will go to Tripoli," one of the fighters, who called himself Mohammad, said.
A spokesperson for Gaddafi played down recent rebel gains and said the government remained in control of the country.
"This is a crisis that will last a few days and then it will be - God willing - overcome," Mussa Ibrahim said in remarks carried by Jananews agency yesterday.
"We will push ahead until we liberate the whole country."
Aided by Nato bombers, assault helicopters and a naval blockade, the rebels have transformed the battle in the last few days after many weeks of stalemate.
The US also deployed two more Predator drones for surveillance operations over Libya, a US official said on Wednesday.
It was unclear how many drones the US already had over the country.
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