Libyan rebels rout Gaddafi forces in strategic town

AJDABIYAH, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan rebels backed by allied air strikes retook the strategic town of Ajdabiyah on Saturday after an all-night battle that suggested the tide is turning against Muammar Gaddafi's forces in the east.

Western warplanes bombed the outskirts of Misrata further west to stop Gaddafi forces shelling the city, a rebel spokesman said. One inhabitant said 115 people had been killed in Misrata in a week and snipers were still shooting people from rooftops.

In Ajdabiyah, rebel fighters danced on tanks, waved flags and fired in the air near buildings riddled with bulletholes. Half a dozen wrecked tanks lay near the eastern entrance to the town and the ground was strewn with empty shell casings.

Rebels said fighting had lasted through the night. By the town's western gate there were bodies of more than a dozen Gaddafi fighters and an abandoned truckload of ammunition suggested Gaddafi forces had beaten a hasty retreat.

"Thank you Britain, thank you France, thank you America," said one rebel, praising the Western air strikes against Gaddafi targets.

A Reuters correspondent said there was no sign of Gaddafi troops some 25 km (15 miles) beyond the town and that rebels had reported that government forces had retreated to the oil terminal town of Brega, 70 km to the west. The rebel report could not be independently verified.

Capturing Ajdabiyah, a gateway from western Libya to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi and the oil town of Tobruk, was a big morale boost for the rebels a week after coalition airstrikes began to enforce the U.N.-mandated no-fly zone.

Western governments hope the raids, launched with the aim of protecting civilians, will also shift the balance of power in favour of the Arab world's most violent popular revolt.

U.S. President Barack Obama, criticised by U.S. politicians across the spectrum for failing to communicate the goals of the campaign, told Americans that the military mission in Libya was clear, focussed and limited. He said that it had already saved countless civilian lives.

LIVES HAVE BEEN SAVED

Obama said Libya's air defences had been disabled, Gaddafi's forces were no longer advancing and in places like Benghazi, his forces had been pushed back.

"So make no mistake, because we acted quickly, a humanitarian catastrophe has been avoided and the lives of countless civilians -- innocent men, women and children -- have been saved," Obama said in a weekly radio address.

Obama, due to speak to Americans about Libya again on Monday evening, had also been criticised by fellow politicians for taking on another military mission in a Muslim country when the United States is embroiled in the Iraq and Afghan wars.

NATO has agreed to take over that role in enforcing the no-fly zone and arms embargo against Libya, but final details have not yet been worked out for the military alliance to take over the air strikes against Gaddafi's equipment and military.

In Misrata, rebel spokesman Abdelbasset Abu Mzereiq told Reuters by telephone that bombing by foreign warplanes had reduced the shelling by Gaddafi forces in the town, the only big rebel stronghold left in the west of Libya.

Cut off from the main rebel force fighting in the east, it has been encircled and under bombardment for weeks.

"There was heavy shelling earlier. We know the allied planes have made several raids and bombed several locations in the outskirts. We know they bombed an ammunition site inside the air base (south of the city)," said Mzereiq.

A rebel spokesman in Benghazi said two civilians in Misrata were killed by shelling on Saturday morning and six wounded.

Rebels said aid organisations were able to deliver some supplies to Misrata but were concerned about the snipers.

In Tripoli, explosions were heard early on Saturday, signalling possible strikes by warplanes or missiles.

Libyan state television was broadcasting occasional, brief news reports of Western air strikes. Mostly it showed footage -- some of it grainy images years old -- of cheering crowds waving green flags and carrying portraits of Gaddafi.

Neither Gaddafi nor his sons have been shown on state television since the Libyan leader made a speech from his Tripoli compound on Wednesday.

State TV said the "brother leader" had promoted all members of his armed forces and police "for their heroic and courageous fight against the crusader, colonialist assault."

In a screen caption, Libyan TV later said that tens of thousands of Britons had massed to condemn the "colonialist, crusader aggression" against Libya, an apparent reference to a march in London against government spending cuts.

(Additional reporting by Alexander Dziadosz, Maria Golovnina, Michael Georgy, Ibon Villelabeitia, Lamine Chikhi, Mariam Karouny and Patricia Zengerle; Writing by Tom Pfeiffer; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)