A wounded Libyan civilian arrives at a hospital on the western front of Misrata on April 28, 2011.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- “So far, we have received one martyr,” a medical committee member says
- An undetermined number of others have been wounded
- Three government tanks are at Misrata’s western gate
(CNN) — Libyan government forces killed one person and wounded an undetermined number of others when they sought to re-enter the embattled port city of Misrata on Friday, a member of the Medical Committee of the Local Misrata Council said.
“So far, we received one martyr at the Hikmah Hospital, the main hospital in Misrata, but we dispatched a few ambulances to get the injured,” the committee member said.
Rebel forces were engaging forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi at the western gate in the Algeran district site, which is on the city outskirts and where the government had sent three tanks, a Libyan dissident said.
Friday’s attack came a day after shelling in Misrata killed 10 people, including two women and a 13-year-old girl, a spokesman for the rebels said.
Gadhafi forces had dismantled rocket launchers so they would escape detection by NATO forces, and then reassembled them in the city for use in attacking civilians, the spokesman said.
“We have reports that Gadhafi troops are loading fish boats with weapons in Tripoli and may be coming to Misrata,” he said.
Misrata, the third-largest city in the North African country, has been hemmed in on three sides by Gadhafi’s forces. Though rebels said they had gained control of the city’s center and had pushed government forces outside the city, they said Gadhafi’s forces were continuing to attack Misrata with heavy weaponry.
On Thursday, rebels retook the Tunisian-Libyan border area of Dehaiba/Wazin after forces loyal to Gadhafi had taken it earlier in the day, a witness said.
The witness, Yousef Gaigi, said about 100 rebel vehicles equipped with assault rifles and anti-aircraft weapons drove from the Libyan city of Zintan to the border area, where they clashed with pro-government forces.
“The fight resulted in many casualties,” he said, without citing a number.
Gaigi said the pro-Gadhafi forces then fled to the Tunisian side of the border and handed their weapons to the Tunisian army.
The Tunisian Defense Ministry said the soldiers were taken farther north to the border at Ras Ajdir and sent back to Libya. Asked whether the Tunisians had returned the Libyans’ weapons, a ministry official said, “It’s possible.”
NATO is leading an international military operation in Libya that includes airstrikes targeting Gadhafi’s military resources. It is operating under a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing any means necessary — with the exception of foreign occupation — to protect civilians.
CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen and Saad Abedine contributed to this report.
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Libyan government forces make another push for embattled city