Tripoli, March 16: Revolutionary fighters reject claims that forces loyal to Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi have taken full control of the strategic oil-rich town of Ajdabiya.
The development comes after Libyan state television said on Tuesday that Gaddafi’s loyalists were now “in total control” of the town.
The opposition leaders announced in a statement that the assault was repelled.
However, reports indicate that warplanes of the Gaddafi regime have escalated airstrikes on the oil-rich town since Monday.
Ajdabiya is located about 100 miles south of Benghazi, the opposition stronghold.
Pro-government forces are zeroing in on the Western city of Misrata, which is held by the revolutionary fighters. Reports say that pro-Gaddafi forces have killed four people in the city.
“Very heavy bombardments are taking place now from three sides. They are using heavy weapons including tanks and artillery. They have yet to enter the town,” Reuters quoted locals and residents as saying.
Meanwhile, Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam has just claimed that revolutionaries holed up in the eastern city of Benghazi will be defeated within the next 48 hours.
Saif al-Islam also ruled out the possibility of a foreign military intervention in Libya.
Thousands of people held a rally in Benghazi on Tuesday, calling Gaddafi a tyrant. The rally took place after Gaddafi called protesters rats and traitors.
Meanwhile, discussions among the members of the UN Security Council over the situation in Libya have again led to nowhere.
Colonel Gaddafi has ruled Libya ever since taking over the country in a 1969 bloodless military coup.
Latest reports from Libya indicate that thousands may have been killed or injured as the regime’s brutal crackdown on protesters and opposition forces escalates.
—-Agencies