Rebels claim victory in Misrata

The claim came as Gaddafi troops said the army had been ordered to retreat from the western port and a rebel spokesman said soldiers had booby-trapped bodies and buildings as they fled.

The last large city held by rebels in western Libya, Misrata had been under a punishing government siege for nearly two months and hundreds of civilians have died in the fighting.

"We have been told to withdraw. We were told to withdraw yesterday," one government soldier, Khaled Dorman, said. He was among 12 wounded soldiers brought to a hospital for treatment in Misrata, 130 miles east of Tripoli. Blasts and machine-gun fire could be heard in the distance.

Another serviceman, asked if the Gaddafi government had lost control of Misrata, said "yes".

Rebel spokesman Gemal Salem later said Gaddafi's forces had left the city but remained outside and in a position to bombard it.

"Misrata is free, the rebels have won. Of Gaddafi's forces, some are killed and others are running away," he said.

Salem said the rebels in Misrata would now help those elsewhere in western Libya. They would fight Gaddafi's troops, who cracked down on the west early on in the uprising against the Libyan leader's four-decade-old rule after rebels, based in Benghazi, took control of the east.

• US fires first drone missile at Gaddafi

The Gaddafi regime acknowledged late on Friday the siege had been broken when rebels seized the port and Nato air strikes had taken their toll. "The tactic of the Libyan army is to have a surgical solution, but it doesn't work. With the air strikes it doesn't work," deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim said.

"The situation in Misrata will be eased. It will be dealt with by the tribes around Misrata and the rest of Misrata's people, not the Libyan army."

Another rebel spokesman Abdelsalam, said pro-Gaddafi tribes were in a minority in the area: "There are two small pro-Gaddafi settlements outside Misrata. They make up less than 1 per cent of the population of Misrata and the surrounding area.

"Those people know that when Gaddafi's regime falls, they will fall with it," he added, predicting the government would boost their strength by paying mercenaries to pose as tribesmen. Salem said rebels were now combing Misrata and clearing the streets.

Before leaving, he said, Gaddafi's forces had laid booby-traps. He added: "One man was opening his fridge when he went to his house after the Gaddafi forces left it this morning and it blew up in his face.

"Bodies the same.When the rebels are trying to lift a body it blows up.

"We have had three people killed because of that and 15 wounded."

On Friday, rebels in Misrata seized control of a city centre office building that had been a base for Gaddafi's snipers and other troops after a furious two-week battle. Yesterday, captured Gaddafi soldiers said rebels had attacked as they retreated.

"The rebels attacked us while we were withdrawing from Misrata near a bridge this morning," said Ayad Muhammad, a young soldier.

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

A rebel activist in Misrata questioned how much support Gaddafi had among the local tribes.

"This whole move is just to buy time," he added, expecting further attacks.

Last night most of the city of 300,000 people was calm, with rebel forces taking over several key buildings that had been filled with government soldiers, including snipers.

An eight-storey insurance building - pockmarked from shells and scorched around the windows - had been used by snipers because it was the tallest in central Misrata and commanded a view of the city.

"After they heard the news, people began breathing freely. The women were making ululations and they went on to the streets beeping their car horns," said the activist, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal.

The only fighting yesterday was on the eastern outskirts of the city, where about 150 pro-Gaddafi soldiers trying to withdraw were fighting rebels, he said, adding that ambulances were picking up dead and injured.

Meanwhile, rebels rushed supplies yesterday to remote mountain towns under attack by forces loyal to Gaddafi, cheered by reports of gains for fellow fighters in Misrata.

Two days after insurgents seized a remote border crossing with Tunisia and raised the pre-Gaddafi flag, people queued in cars to bring food and gasoline from the neighbouring country into the area known as the Western Mountains.

The fighting in Libya's Western Mountains has not received as much international attention as the siege of Misrata or clashes in the east, but rebels in the mountains have also been putting Gaddafi's forces under pressure.

Residents and insurgents say pro-government forces have been bombarding Western Mountain towns, which joined in a wider revolt against Gaddafi in February.

At least 14,000 people have fled escalating violence there over the few weeks through the border crossing near the southern Tunisian town of Dehiba, saying the region faces worsening hardship with a lack of water, food and medicines.

Mountain towns such as Nalut and Yafran are inhabited by Berbers, a group ethnically distinct from most Libyans and traditionally viewed with suspicion by Gaddafi's government.

Libya's government has denied that the rebels captured the border post, saying insurgents in the sparsely-populated region were "hiding in some caves" from where they launched attacks.

But the insurgents, numbering about 40, were still at the crossing yesterday and there was no sign of pro-government troops after Thursday's clashes. Some of them fled into Tunisia.