Winter storm warnings continue in northern Minnesota 

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

By PAUL SCHEMM and MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press


      BREGA, Libya (AP) - Opponents of Moammar Gadhafi repelled an
attack by the Libyan leader's forces trying to retake a key coastal
oil installation in a topsy-turvy battle Wednesday in which shells
splashed in the Mediterranean and a warplane bombed a beach where
rebel fighters were charging over the dunes. At least six people
were killed in the fighting.


      The assault on the Brega oil port was the first major regime
counteroffensive against the opposition-held eastern half of Libya,
where the population backed by mutinous army units rose up and
drove out Gadhafi's rule over the past two weeks.


      For the past week, pro-Gadhafi forces have been focusing on the
west, securing his stronghold in the capital Tripoli and trying to
take back nearby rebel-held cities with only mixed success.


      But the foray east against opposition-held Brega appeared to
stumble. The pro-Gadhafi forces initially recaptured the oil
facilities Wednesday morning. But then a wave of opposition citizen
militias drove them out again, cornering them in a nearby
university campus where they battled for several hours until the
approximately 200 Gadhafi loyalists fled, according to an
Associated Press reporter at the scene.


      In the capital, Gadhafi vowed, "We will fight until the last
man and woman." He lashed out against Europe and the United States
for their pressure on him to step down, warning that thousands of
Libyans will die if U.S. and NATO forces intervene in the conflict.


      The United States is moving naval and air forces closer to
Libyan shores and is calling for Gadhafi to give up power
immediately. The U.S., Britain and other NATO countries are drawing
up contingency plans to impose a no-fly zone over Libya to prevent
Gadhafi's air forces from striking rebels. But the idea has been
rejected by Russia, which holds a veto-wielding seat on the U.N.
Security Council.


      "We will not accept an intervention like that of the Italians
that lasted decades," Gadhafi said, referring to Italy's colonial
rule early in the 20th Century. "We will not accept a similar
American intervention. This will lead to a bloody war and thousands
of Libyans will die if America and NATO enter Libya."


      Opposition members said they believe Gadhafi was pulling up
reinforcements from bases deep in the deserts of southwestern
Libya, flying them to the fronts on the coast.


      Soon after sunrise Wednesday, a large force of Gadhafi loyalists
in around 50 SUVS, some mounted with machine guns, descended on
opposition-held Brega, 460 miles (740 kilometers) east of Tripoli
along the Mediterranean. The force caught a small opposition
contingent guarding the site by surprise and it fled, said Ahmed
Dawas, an anti-Gadhafi fighter at a checkpoint outside the port.


      The pro-Gadhafi forces seized the port, airstrip and the oil
facilities where about 4,000 personnel work, as regime warplanes
hit an ammunition depot on the outskirts of the nearby rebel-held
city of Ajdabiya, witnesses said.


      Midmorning, the opposition counterattacked. Anti-Gadhafi
fighters with automatic weapons sped out of Ajdabiya in pickup
trucks, heading for Brega, 40 miles away (70 kilometers) away.
Dawas said they retook the oil facilities and airstrip. Other
witnesses reported regime forces were surrounded by rebels. The
sound of screaming warplanes and the crackle of heavy gunfire could
be heard as the witnesses spoke to The Associated Press by phone.


      By the afternoon, the regime fighters fled the oil facilities
and holed up in a nearby university campus, where they came under
siege by anti-Gadhafi fighters, according to an Associated Press
reporter at the scene.


      Machine gun and automatic weapons fire rattled in the air, and
shells lobbed from the campus went over the anti-Gadhafi side to
splash in the Mediterranean.


      At one point, a warplane from Gadhafi's air force swooped
overhead and an explosion was heard. A witness said it struck an
empty stretch of dunes near the battle, sending a plume of sand
into the air but causing no injuries in an apparent attempt to
intimidate the anti-Gadhafi side.


      But opposition citizen militias poured into the battle, arriving
from Ajdabiya and armed with assault rifles. They moved through the
dunes along the beach against the campus next to a pristine
blue-water Mediterranean beach. Those without guns picked up
bottles and put wicks in them to make firebombs.


      An ambulance driver who was briefly held by the pro-Gadhafi
force and then released told AP they numbered about 200 fighters.
The forces came to Brega from Sirte, Gadhafi's main remaining
stronghold in central Libya, 200 miles (320 kilometers) west of the
oil port, said the driver, Jumaa Shway.


      At least six opposition fighters were killed and 18 others
wounded in the fighting, their bodies covered with sand thrown up
by shells bursting in the dunes, doctors at Brega hospital said.
Angry crowds gathered around them at Brega's hospital, chanting,
"The blood of martyrs will not go in vain."


      In the late afternoon, the pro-Gadhafi force fled the campus,
and opposition fighters were seen combing through the university
buildings. Automatic gunfire was still heard in the distance, but
it appeared the regime troops were withdrawing. The campus grounds
and dunes between it and the beach were littered with casings and
shells.


      In Ajdabiya, people geared up to defend the city, fearing the
pro-Gadhafi forces would move on them next. At the gates of the
city, hundreds of residents took up positions on the road from
Brega, armed with Kalashnikovs and hunting rifles, along with a few
rocket-propelled grenade launchers. They set up two large rocket
launchers and an anti-aircraft gun in the road. But by the evening,
there was no sign of attack there.


      Brega and nearby Ajdabiya are the farthest west points in the
large contiguous swath of eastern Libya extending all the way to
the Egyptian border that fell into opposition hands in the uprising
that began Feb. 15. Ajdabiya is about 90 miles (150 kilometers)
from Benghazi, Libya's second largest city and the nerve center of
the opposition.


      Brega is the second-largest hydrocarbon complex in OPEC-member
Libya. Amid the turmoil, exports from its ports have all but
stopped with no ships coming to load up with crude and natural gas.
Crude production in the southeastern oil fields that feed into the
facility has been scaled back because storage facilities at Brega
were filling up. General Manager Fathi Eissa said last week the
facility has had to scale back production dramatically from 90,000
barrels of crude a day to just 11,000.


      The unrest in Libya - which ranks about 17th among world oil
producers and has Africa's largest proven oil reserves - has
sparked a major spike in world oil prices. Overall crude production
has dropped from 1.6 million barrels per day to 850,000.


      Gadhafi's regime has been left in control of Libya's northwest
corner, centered on Tripoli, but even here several cities have
fallen into rebel hands after residents rose up in protests, backed
by mutinous army units and drove out Gadhafi loyalists.


      In recent days, loyalists succeeded in regaining two of those
towns - Gharyan, a strategic town in the Nafusa mountains south of
Tripoli, and Sabratha, a small town west of the capital.


      But opposition fighters successfully repulsed attacks by
pro-Gadhafi forces on several others: the key city of Zawiya
outside the capital; Misrata, Libya's third largest city east of
Tripoli; and Zintan, a town further southwest in the Nafusa
mountains.


      The regime may be bringing in more forces from regions it still
dominates in the sparsely populated deserts in the southwest.


      Residents of the southwestern oasis town of Sebha - a key
Gadhafi stronghold with military bases 400 miles (560 kilometers)
south of Tripoli - reported heavy movement at the airport there
Tuesday night, said Abdel-Bari Zwei, one of the opposition
activists in Ajdabiya in touch with sympathizers in Sebha. Zwei
said it is believed some of those forces were involved in the
offensive against Brega.


      In his speech Wednesday, Gadhafi lashed out at international
moves against his regime, including the freezing of his and other
Libyan assets abroad - an act he called "piracy" - and efforts by
Europe to send aid to opposition-held Benghazi. He said any Libyan
who accepts international aid was guilty of "high treason"
because it "opens Libya to colonialism."


      In a pointed message to Europe, he warned, "There will be no
stability in the Mediterranean if there is no stability in Libya."


      "Africans will march to Europe without anyone to stop them. The
Mediterranean will become a center for piracy like Somalia," he
said. Gadhafi's regime has worked closely with Italy and other
European countries to stop African migrants who use Libya as a
launching point to slip into Europe.


      He also threatened to bring in Chinese and Indian companies to
replace Western companies in Libya's oil sector if the West keeps
up its pressure on him. European firms are heavily involved in
Libya's oil production.


      Michael reported from Tripoli, Libya.
      

Gallery

US unsure on military options for Libya

Rebels thwart Gadhafi forces' push to take key city

Clinton: US ready to aid to Libyan opposition

Obama says Gadhafi's time is up as Libya's leader

Unrest

Opponents of Moammar Gahadfi repelled an
attack by the Libyan leader's forces trying to retake a key coastal
oil installation in a topsy-turvy battle Wednesday.

Rebels push back Libya regime attack on oil port

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox