20110408
reuters

TUNIS (Reuters) - Forces loyal to Libya's Muammar Gaddafi are hiding tanks and artillery and using "shoot and scoot" tactics in Misrata, frustrating NATO air efforts to break a weeks-long siege of the rebel-held Libyan city.

Despite repeated bombing raids by the Western alliance, Gaddafi loyalists continue to lay siege to the city and its vital port -- making it one of the bloodiest battlefields of Libya's two-month-old conflict.

Rebels say pro-Gaddafi forces are concealing tanks in buildings and artillery beneath trees, firing from civilian-populated areas and near mosques. "NATO can't strike those places," said Safieddin, a rebel spokesman in the city.

Government forces have abandoned the city centre to the rebels, but are entrenched in the built-up outskirts, sometimes firing from the open and scuttling for cover between buildings.

"There are houses there. It's not as densely populated as downtown Misrata but still it's the city," said NATO's senior military officer, Admiral Giampaolo di Paula.

"So therefore they are still continuing to use the tactics of shoot and scoot and that's why we need to continue to systematically degrade their military firepower," he said.

Two graphic examples came earlier this week.

After after two days of NATO bombing raids, pro-Gaddafi forces rained artillery on the port as an aid ship docked to evacuate hundreds of African migrant workers and wounded Libyan civilians. Five people were killed, rebels said, and hundreds were left stranded on the dock.