By Michael Georgy
MISRATA, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan troops captured in Misrata said on Saturday they had been ordered to retreat from the city, in what appeared to be a significant setback for Muammar Gaddafi's forces, hastened by NATO air strikes.
Misrata, the last large city held by rebels in western Libya, has 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 by rebels to hospital 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 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.
Al Jazeera television reported that heavy fighting continued around a hospital in western Misrata being used as a base by Gaddafi's forces.
Salem said the rebels in Misrata would now help those elsewhere in western Libya against Gaddafi's forces, who cracked down on the region early on in the uprising against the Libyan leader's four-decade-old rule after the east fell to the rebels.
In the remote Western Mountains, where fighting has received little international attention, rebels rushed supplies to towns under attack, cheered by reports from Misrata.
Two days ago insurgents seized a border crossing with Tunisia in the area. "The fact that we control this border gate means we have broken the isolation of the mountain region after several weeks," a rebel named Ezsine said.
TRIBES
The Libyan government said late on Friday that NATO air strikes had taken their toll on its forces.
"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.
A British military spokesman said British warplanes had destroyed government armoured vehicles near Misrata and in other areas of Libya in recent days.
A 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.
A rebel spokesman told Al Jazeera television at least 15 people had been killed by booby-traps and ambushes and 31 wounded.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Libyan Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi Al-Mahmoudi on Saturday that Moscow could send observers to monitor a cease-fire and pave the way for a peaceful solution, Libya's official JANA news agency said. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou also spoke with Mahmoudi.
Libyan Foreign Minister Abdelati Obeidi was reported to be on his way to Cyprus on Saturday evening.
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, Libyan time, the U.S. Defence Department said, without specifying the 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 had been 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 had 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.
British charity Save The Children said children as young as eight being cared for in refugee camps had reported being sexually assaulted by fighters during the conflict. The charity could not say which side they came from.
Rebels' elation at the breaking of the siege of Misrata was tempered by distrust of Tripoli. "I don't believe Gaddafi at all," said Osama al-Misrati, 41, as he took his wife and children by ferry from Misrata to the safety of Benghazi.
"If he really does withdraw it's for a tactical reason only. We have to win this."
(Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny in Beirut, Alexander Dziadosz in Benghazi, Lin Noueihed in Tripoli and Joseph Nasr in Berlin; writing by Andrew Roche; Editing by Kevin Liffey)