NATO expresses regret, Libya rebel town shelled

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AJDABIYA (Libya), April 8 (AFP): Loyalist forces shelled the edge of the Libyan town of Ajdabiya Friday forcing insurgents there to retreat, as NATO expressed regret at the deaths caused by an alliance air strike on rebel tanks. Reacting to the shelling, panicked rebels retreated to the city centre, seven kilometres (4.5 miles) away. The assault comes a day after many insurgents and civilians stampeded out of the eastern city on rumours that Moamer Gaddafi's troops were at its gates. An AFP reporter said rebels had Friday morning regrouped at Ajdabiya, 860 kilometres (535 miles) east of Tripoli, before advancing westwards to the front line near the oil town of Brega. On Thursday, families packed into cars and trucks had joined rebel military vehicles in a charge northeast towards the insurgent stronghold Benghazi with rebels saying GRAD missiles had hit the edge of the town. The flight Thursday from Ajdabiya came after two air strikes by NATO warplanes destroyed three rebel tanks and killed four people near Brega. Six people were missing. NATO chief Anders Fogh Rassmussen Friday described the bombing as an "unfortunate incident." "I strongly regret the loss of life," Rasmussen said, one day after a strike The secretary general made the statement on NATO's television channel a few hours after the alliance's operation's deputy commander, British Rear Admiral Russell Harding, refused to apologise for the air strike. Harding said the alliance was unaware that rebels were using tanks in their campaign against Gaddafi forces, and said it was becoming hard to distinguish between the two sides on the road between Brega and Ajdabiya. But the rebels said they were "not seeking an apology but an explanation" from NATO. "We are not questioning the intention of the NATO," rebel spokesman Shamsiddin Abdulmolah told the news agency. It is the second time in less than a week that NATO warplanes accidentally strike rebel positions near Brega. Libyan rebels in the besieged city of Misrata, meanwhile, Friday criticised NATO for what they said was its lack of response to Gaddafi's forces who have relentlessly pounded the city for more than a month. The UN announced that a World Food Programme (WFP) ship carrying food, medicines and doctors, arrived late Thursday at Misrata with 600 tonnes of foodstuffs "enough to feed more than 40,000 people for a month." The WFP also sent two doctors to the city, as well as enough medical supplies from the UN's children's agency UNICEF and the World Health Organisation to cover the urgent needs of 50,000 people for a month. Misrata, about 215 kilometres (130 miles) east of Tripoli, has seen fighting for more than 40 days since the start of the uprising against Gaddafi. Doctors said last week that 200 people had been killed there since the fighting began.