17 killed in fierce fighting in Libya

AJDABIYA, Libya -- Holding out under a rain of shelling and sniper fire, Libyan rebels fought Moammar Gadhafi's forces yesterday in close-quarters battles in the city center of Misrata, the last major rebel foothold in western Libya. Seventeen people were killed, an NGO worker and an opposition activist said.

Government troops have been laying siege to the city on the Mediterranean coast for weeks, prompting repeated international warnings of a dire humanitarian situation as well as calls for NATO forces to intensify airstrikes on Gadhafi's forces there.

Government troops, who have pushed into the city center from the outskirts in recent days, pounded Misrata Sunday with mortar rounds and rocket-propelled grenades, said resident Abdel-Salam, who provided only his given name for fear of retribution.

"Residents have become so accustomed to the sound of mortars and missiles," he said. "Snipers are still on the roofs of tall buildings shooting at anything that moves in the city center."

Rebels fought government forces back from an area around a central produce market, regaining a small sliver of territory, said Rida al-Montasser, a local activist reached by Skype.

He said a hospital report that he received from a doctor, showed 17 people, including rebels, were killed and 74 others were injured. He said Gadhafi forces had fired at the city's hospital yesterday.

A worker for a foreign NGO who visited the hospital said 17 bodies were brought in, including that of a girl shot in the head. Other children were among the wounded, he said.

The NATO-led air campaign authorized by the UN to protect civilians and enforce a no-fly zone has failed to stop government shelling that, according to residents and witnesses, has hit Misrata's hospital, the port and residential areas.

The international airstrikes have kept rebels from being defeated on the battlefield by the better trained and equipped government forces, but has not been enough to turn the tide in the war. In the eastern half of Libya, rebels in control of most of that part of the country since the uprising began on Feb. 15 have been unable to advance westward toward the capital.