Libyan rebels seized control of the eastern oil town of Ajdabiya from Muammar Gaddafi's forces which has been pounded by the US-led western coalition for the last one week in a bid to force hin to quit. The coalition has stepped up air raids on Gaddafi's tanks and artillery outside the town,160-km south of the rebel stronghold of Benghazi. Rebel fighters were now reportedly on their way to the oil port town of Brega,where Gaddafi forces have retreated,witnesses said. Amid the ruins of tanks and artillery pieces left behind after air strikes,Ajdabiya was "firmly back under the control of opposition fighters",Al Jazeera channel said. "There is no doubt about it,you can probably hear some of the celebrations behind me,Ajdabiya is in opposition hands," the report from Ajdabiya said. "The opposition forces tell me there may be some pro-Gaddafi forces hiding,snipers possibly on buildings,they are telling us to take care," the report said,adding some of Gaddafi's soldiers were also taken hostage by rebels. In the fighting in Misrata forces loyal to Gaddafi shelled an area on the outskirts of the city,killing six people including three children,a rebel said. Gaddafi forces are still trying to recapture Misrata,the last major western Libyan town in rebel hands,and residents reported shelling continuing there late on Friday,the BBC reported. The port city has experienced some of the heaviest fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Gaddafi since the uprising began on February 16. Meanwhile US President Barack Obama has said the military mission in Libya is clear,focused and limited. "Because we acted quickly,a humanitarian catastrophe has been avoided and the lives of countless civilians -innocent men,women and children - have been saved," he said in a radio address today. Obama once again ruled out sending any American ground forces to the north African country and sought to project the campaign in Libya as a completely multi-lateral mission. "We're succeeding in our mission. We've taken out Libya's air defences. Gaddafi's forces are no longer advancing across Libya. In places like Benghazi,a city of some 700,000 that Qaddafi threatened to show 'no mercy',his forces have been pushed back," Obama said. Eight days into the military strikes in Libya,he underlined that there will not be any US ground forces in the operation. Meanwhile,the US said it is working with the Libyan opposition leaders on post-Gaddafi scenario. "We are working in a variety of ways to reach out to the opposition in Libya,to advise them on what a post-Gaddafi Libya would best look like," White House Press Secretary,Jay Carney told reporters in Washington.
