20110518
reuters

Libya's rebel-held Western Mountains came under intense bombardment on Tuesday from Muammar Gaddafi's army, forcing rebels to briefly pull back from the border with Tunisia as rockets slammed into the desert.

Although they managed to retain control of the Dehiba-Wazin border crossing, rebels said it was the most sustained bombardment for at least a week, killing three of their men and wounding several others.

The border crossing is a lifeline for rebels fighting on the western front of Libya's two-month-old conflict, allowing food, medicine and fuel supplies to reach a chain of rebel-held towns stretching more than 200 km (125 miles) along the sparsely populated mountain plateau.

The rebels hold the high ground, but are coming under artillery fire from pro-Gaddafi forces in the desert plains below.

A military field hospital in the Tunisian frontier town of Dehiba had treated 13 wounded men by late afternoon.

Most had been brought from the mountain towns of Zintan and Nalut, suffering from shrapnel and gunshot wounds, a military official said. There appeared to have been close-quarter fighting as well as shelling.

Ambulances carrying many wounded men crossed over into Tunisia, a Reuters photographer at the border post said.