'Gaddafi playing dirty tricks'
In a Misrata hospital, meanwhile, two captured pro-Gaddafi soldiers said that loyalist forces were losing their grip in the battle for the western port, and that their morale was sinking.
MISRATA: Libyan rebels accused Muammer Gaddafi of playing dirty games in Misrata where salvos of Grad rockets exploded on Sunday in apparent contradiction of his regime's vow to halt fire in the western city.
In a Misrata hospital, meanwhile, two captured pro-Gaddafi soldiers said that loyalist forces were losing their grip in the battle for the western port, and that their morale was sinking.
"Many soldiers want to surrender but they are afraid of being executed" by the rebels, said Lili Mohammed, a Mauritanian mercenary hired by the Gaddhafi regime to fight insurgents in the country's third city.
"Gaddafi forces are losing" in Misrata, said Misbah Mansuri, 25, another wounded loyalist fighter who said he was forcibly enlisted 45 days ago.
Both Mohammed and Mansuri spoke to AFP separately from their hospital room in the presence of a doctor, saying officers had abandoned the troops and their supply lines were cut.
Deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim said early on Sunday the army had suspended operations against rebels in Misrata, but not left the city, to enable local tribes to find a peaceful solution.
"The armed forces have not withdrawn from Misrata. They have simply suspended their operations," he told a news conference in Tripoli.
"The tribes are determined to solve the problem within 48 hours... We believe that this battle will be settled peacefully and not militarily."
But Colonel Omar Bani, the military spokesman of the rebels' Transitional National Council, said Gaddafi was "playing a really dirty game" aimed at dividing his opponents. "It is a trick, they didn't go," Bani said in the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi, adding: "They have stayed a bit out of Tripoli Street but they are preparing themselves to attack again."
Kaim had previously announced the army would withdraw from Misrata and leave local tribes to resolve the conflict there, either by talks or through force. But later on Sunday bursts of automatic weapons fire could be heard and Grad rockets exploded in the city, the scene of deadly urban guerrilla fighting for weeks between rebels and Gaddafi loyalists.
In a Misrata hospital, meanwhile, two captured pro-Gaddafi soldiers said that loyalist forces were losing their grip in the battle for the western port, and that their morale was sinking.
"Many soldiers want to surrender but they are afraid of being executed" by the rebels, said Lili Mohammed, a Mauritanian mercenary hired by the Gaddhafi regime to fight insurgents in the country's third city.
"Gaddafi forces are losing" in Misrata, said Misbah Mansuri, 25, another wounded loyalist fighter who said he was forcibly enlisted 45 days ago.
Both Mohammed and Mansuri spoke to AFP separately from their hospital room in the presence of a doctor, saying officers had abandoned the troops and their supply lines were cut.
Deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim said early on Sunday the army had suspended operations against rebels in Misrata, but not left the city, to enable local tribes to find a peaceful solution.
"The armed forces have not withdrawn from Misrata. They have simply suspended their operations," he told a news conference in Tripoli.
"The tribes are determined to solve the problem within 48 hours... We believe that this battle will be settled peacefully and not militarily."
But Colonel Omar Bani, the military spokesman of the rebels' Transitional National Council, said Gaddafi was "playing a really dirty game" aimed at dividing his opponents. "It is a trick, they didn't go," Bani said in the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi, adding: "They have stayed a bit out of Tripoli Street but they are preparing themselves to attack again."
Kaim had previously announced the army would withdraw from Misrata and leave local tribes to resolve the conflict there, either by talks or through force. But later on Sunday bursts of automatic weapons fire could be heard and Grad rockets exploded in the city, the scene of deadly urban guerrilla fighting for weeks between rebels and Gaddafi loyalists.
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