AP IMPACT: How rebels held Misrata
May 4, 2011, AP Impact
Tripoli Street is a bullet-scarred wasteland — littered with charred cars and tanks, its cafes and offices shattered. Yet for Misrata’s civilians-turned-fighters, the boulevard is a prized trophy, paid for in blood, won with grit and guile.
It took five weeks of fierce street battles — on rooftops, in alleyways — for Misrata’s inexperienced rebels to wrest control of their city’s commercial heart from forces loyal to Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi. Up against armored units and professional sniper squads, they turned bottles, tires and trailer trucks into tools of war.
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No Escape from Misrata for the Dying
May 3, 2011 - Channel 4 UK:
Time is running out. Time has already run out for at least one casualty due to escape Misrata on the rescue ship Red Star. He died yesterday at the town’s overcrowded hospital.
One doctor there, Dimitrios Mognia of the International Medical Corps, is almost in tears: “We have seven ICU beds and eleven cases. What is NATO doing? What is the world doing? If any more people come here they will die. They will die. It’s unbelievable – look – there’s another one.”
MAY3
IOM urges NATO, Libya to let ship dock in Misrata
May 3, 2011 2:38pm GMT - Reuters
The International Organisation for Migration called on NATO and Libyan authorities on Tuesday to allow its rescue ship to dock in Misrata port to evacuate 1,000 mainly African migrants and dozens of wounded Libyan civilians.
The Red Star One, its chartered vessel, has been waiting offshore from the besieged western city since Saturday.
Two severely wounded people are reported to have died in hospital during that time while awaiting evacuation, the agency said.
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