20110423
reuters

MISRATA, Libya (Reuters) - A group of wounded Libyan soldiers captured by rebels in Misrata said on Saturday they had come under fierce attack from insurgents as the army tried to retreat from the besieged coastal city.

Misrata's rubble-strewn streets were lined with ruined buildings and distant explosions and machine gun fire rang out around Libya's third largest city in the morning. But it was unclear how far out of Misrata the army had managed to pull out.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's government said earlier that NATO air strikes may force it to halt fighting in the sprawling Mediterranean port city and let local tribes take over.

Soldiers, wounded and visibly terrified as they were brought by rebels to a local hospital, described scenes of heavy fighting as they tried to retreat from the city near a bridge earlier in the morning.

"We have been told to withdraw. We were told to withdraw yesterday," one soldier, Khaled Dorman, told Reuters.

Lying in the back of a pickup truck, he was among 12 wounded army soldiers brought to a hospital for treatment in Misrata.

As he spoke, other uniformed soldiers moaned in pain, saying "My god, my god."

Another serviceman, asked by a Reuters correspondent if the government had lost control over Misrata, said "Yes".