Tripoli/Washington, April 24
Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi launched barrages of artillery into western besieged town of Misrata even as the Libyan government today said it had halted operations against rebels to facilitate a resolution of the civil war by local tribesmen.
NATO air strikes targeted Tripoli as well as Gaddafi’s stronghold of Surt, Gharyan and other western cities, a government spokesman said.

The western military alliance stepped up its air strikes on targets around Tripoli and other cities, BBC quoted Libyan state news agency Jana as saying.

At least three large explosions were heard in Tripoli.

Amid conflicting reports over the halt to the military operations by pro-Gaddafi forces, BBC said explosions and gunfire were heard from Misrata, Libya’s third largest city. Local residents and doctors described yesterday as one of the bloodiest in weeks, leaving at least 25 persons killed and some 71 others critically injured in the rebels’ main stronghold in the west of the country.

Mohammed El Fortia, a doctor in the city was quoted as saying by Al Jazeera that many of those who died yesterday were victims of booby-trapped bombs left by the Libyan army.

Earlier today, Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said the army had halted operations against the rebels, but not withdrawn from Misrata to facilitated a solution to the crisis by local tribes.

“The armed forces have not withdrawn from Misrata. They have simply suspended their operations,” Kaim told reporters in the capital.

However, he warned that if the rebels refused to surrender in the next two days, armed tribesmen would fight them in place of the army “The other option which is still available from the heads of the tribes is the military intervention to liberate Misrata,” he said.

After pounding the city with rockets, mortar shells and sniper fire for nearly two months, killing hundreds, the government had earlier announced that its forces would withdraw from the third largest city so that the situation “will be dealt with by the tribes”. “We will leave the tribes around Misrata and Misrata’s people to deal with the situation, either using force or negotiations,” Kaim said on Friday night.

However, the rebels, seeking to see the end of the 41-year rule of 68-year-old Gaddafi, were sceptical about the claim. They accused the Libyan regime of “playing games”. “Gaddafi forces are moving back,” Safi Eddin al-Montaser, a rebel spokesman in Misurata was quoted as saying by Al Jazeera. Jalal el-Gallal, a spokesman for the opposition's Transitional National Council (TNC) in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, also doubted the regime would fully withdraw from Misrata.

“It’s a trick,” declared Col. Ahmed Bani, the chief spokesman for the rebel forces in Benghazi. “He’s playing deadly games. He can’t give up Misrata this easily. He knows that if Misrata falls in our hands, it opens the way for Tripoli to fall in our hands,” he was quoted as saying by the New York Times today. — PTI

BRIEFLY

France to get ‘First Baby’?
LONDON: France is set to have a ‘First Baby’. Newspapers across the Gallic nation reported on Sunday that President Nicolas Sarkozy and wife Carla Bruni are expecting a child. The baby would be the 43-year-old’s first with Sarkozy (56) whom she married following a whirlwind romance in 2008, reported Daily Mail online. Rumours of the pregnancy first appeared in the latest edition of French magazine Closer with sources telling the weekly glossy they were “absolutely certain” about the information. — PTI

'World's most premature baby' survives
london: A baby girl, who was born at 21 weeks and five days into her mother's pregnancy, has been discharged from hospital in Germany, making it one of the world's most premature babies to survive. The baby, who was measuring 11 inches weighing just one pound at the time birth in November last year, spent over four months in an incubator before being released from the clinic in Fulda, western Germany, the Telegraph reported. She was not initially expected to survive, as experts generally believe that babies born before the 22nd week of pregnancy could not live. Pregnancies usually last 40 weeks. — PTI

Fresh clash at Thai-Cambodian border
Samrong (Cambodia): Cambodian and Thai troops exchanged heavy weapons fire for the third straight day on Sunday, officials from both countries said, after clashes on their joint border left 10 dead. Thousands of civilians have been forced to flee the disputed jungle frontier after fighting broke out on Friday, shattering a tense two-month ceasefire. A Cambodian field commander said both sides were firing mortars. A Thai official at the border also confirmed the resumption of hostilities and said "Cambodia opened fire first". — AFP