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Libya Rebels Battle for Coastal Cities goo.gl/fb/hGek0 #REU
ZAWIYAH, Libya (Reuters)- - Libyan rebels fought fierce battles in two coastal cities straddling the capital Tripoli Friday in a drive to topple Muammar Gaddafi, but met stiff resistance from forces loyal to the long-time leader.
Sustained blasts from rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and anti-aircraft guns rang out in the centre of Zawiyah, a city along the coastal highway 50 km (30 miles) west of Tripoli that the rebels entered earlier this week, in a clash with government forces that killed at least two.
The clashes came as rebels tried to consolidate their control of the city and its strategic oil refinery. A Reuters team in the city said that rebels in Zawiyah's central square has exchanged heavy fire with Gaddafi forces occupying a floor of the city's main hospital nearby before driving them out.
Medics at another hospital just south of Zawiyah said two dead and three injured had arrived there from the fighting.
On the eastern front, rebels fought bloody street battles in the city of Zlitan but suffered heavy casualties, a Reuters reporter there said. A rebel spokesman said 32 rebel fighters were killed in the clashes, with 150 injured.
