By Michael Georgy
MISRATA, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan troops captured by rebels in Misrata said on Saturday 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, told Reuters from the back of a pickup truck
He was among 12 wounded soldiers brought to a hospital for treatment in Misrata, 200 km (130 miles) east of Tripoli. Blasts and machinegun fire could be heard in the distance.
Another serviceman, asked by a Reuters correspondent if the government had lost control of Misrata, said "yes."
Rebel spokesman Gemal Salem later told Reuters by telephone from Misrata that Muammar Gaddafi's forces had left the city but remained outside and would still be 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 against Gaddafi's forces, who cracked down on the west early on in the uprising against the Libyan leader's four-decade-old rule after the east fell to the rebels.
The Libyan government 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, will be dealt with by the tribes around Misrata and the rest of Misrata's people and not by the Libyan army," he told reporters in Tripoli.
Another rebel spokesman in Misrata, 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 one percent 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 booby-trapped bodies, houses and cars.
"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," he said.
"We have had three people killed because of that and 15 wounded."
DRONE ATTACK
Western countries, which began U.N.-mandated air strikes last month to protect civilians from Gaddafi's forces, have vowed not to stop bombing Libya until he leaves power.
Washington launched its first Predator drone strike on Saturday afternoon, Libya time, the U.S. Defence Department said, without specifying the intended target.
Analysts said it would be a psychological boost for the rebels but would not tip the balance in a conflict which the top U.S. military officer said on Friday was nearing a stalemate.
Earlier, NATO bombs struck what appeared to be a bunker near his Bab al-Aziziyah compound in central Tripoli.
Government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said three people were killed by the "very powerful explosion" in a car park.
Reuters journalists said the area was surrounded by a wall and guarded by watchtowers and soldiers. They saw two large holes where the bombs had torn through soil and reinforced concrete, to pierce what appeared to be an underground bunker.
Smoke was rising from one of the craters and ammunition crates lay nearby. Ibrahim said the area was disused and the ammunition boxes were empty.
NATO said it conducted 59 strike sorties on Friday and hit two command and control bunkers in the capital as well as three tanks, one bunker and other targets near Misrata.
On Friday, rebels in Misrata seized control of a downtown office building that had been a base for Gaddafi's snipers and other troops after a furious two-week battle. On Saturday, captured 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."
(Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny in Beirut, Alexander Dziadosz in Benghazi, Lin Noueihed in Tripoli and Joseph Nasr in Berlin; writing by Maria Golovnina and Philippa Fletcher; editing by Andrew Roche)
