Libya: Children among the victims as rebels celebrate by firing their guns in the air

Mohamed Matoub, 11, died from a bullet fired into the sky for fun by a rebel fighter.

“Doctors tried to save him from his injuries, but he died yesterday in the operating theatre,” said Dr Husam Al Gedar of Tripoli Medical Centre (TMC).

Heavily armed rebel gangs have roamed the streets in pick-ups this week, tooting horns and staking their claims to the capital city they won from Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi last week. They have been hailed as heroes by the local population.

“These boys, they are really good hearted and want the best for their country. But it is not very professional,” said medical student Omezzin Khaled, 22, under a heavy spate of celebratory fire.

But their wild abandon has ended in tragedy. A four-year-old was also killed two days ago said doctors. In the past three days, more than a dozen people have been injured, some severely, by falling bullets, doctors in Tripoli have said.

“This is a serious problem. Today I saw two casualties; one boy was 14 years old,” said Dr Abdullah Turki. Another patient was rushed in when a bullet pierced the roof of his car and hit him in the shoulder.

Thousands of Tripoli residents came to Green square to mark the Muslim religious holiday of Eid yesterday. Just over a week ago the square had played host to staged protests in support of Gaddafi. Prayers were banned there under the regime.

Yesterday the crowds of men, women and children knelt in reverent prayer. They waved the rebel’s tri-colour flag, and rejoiced in a poignant sense of new-found freedom.

“I feel like this is the first day of my life,” said Rana Duzan, 21.

Asked how she felt about the revolt, Fatima Salem, 35, surveyed the jubilant crowd and said: “I think this says it all.”

But as prayers ended, lines of pick-ups full of gun-toting rebel fighters sped into the square, shouting and firing their rifles.

The bullets fell thick and fast in every direction. One man fell to the ground, hit by falling ammunition and was rushed away on a stretcher.

Security guards waved their arms and shouted at the rebels to stop as the frightened crowds, including women and children, scattered.

“We know it is terrible, but what can we do?” shouted one soldier helplessly.

The rebel group, fully kitted out in military uniforms and flak jackets, kept firing for more than an hour with lawless abandon.

As the fighting subsides in the capital the Transitional National Council has urged rebel gangs to give up their weapons. Speaking in Tripoli the previous evening, newly appointed interior minister Ahmed Darat urged crowds not to fire their guns. Yesterday, however, the rebel groups seemed not to have heard.

RUTH SHERLOCK