BENGHAZI, Libya, April 4 (Reuters) – Ashraf Mohamed Salem
has never fired a gun in his life.

But the 27-year-old science student was one of several
hundred eager volunteers who showed up at the Benghazi military
barracks on Monday for a basic training course so he can join
the rebel army facing Muammar Gaddafi’s troops.

BENGHAZI (Reuters) – Explosives that killed a Northern Ireland police officer at the weekend probably came from stocks Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s government sent to the IRA in the past, a lawyer who represents British victims of IRA attacks said on Monday.

A 25-year-old Catholic policeman on Saturday when a bomb exploded under his car in Omagh, the first killing of a policeman in Northern Ireland for two years by nationalist militants opposed to British rule in the province.

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – A Turkish ship rescued 250 wounded from the besieged Libyan city of Misrata on Sunday, but left behind thousands of people pleading to be evacuated, a Turkish diplomat and witnesses said.

Swathed in bandages, evacuees on board gave one of the most detailed accounts yet of conditions in Misrata, the last major rebel-held city in western Libya, and surrounded by government troops after rising up against Muammar Gaddafi in mid-February.

EAST OF BREGA/BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – A NATO-led air strike killed 13 Libyan rebels, a rebel spokesman said on Saturday, but their leaders called for continued raids on Muammar Gaddafi’s forces despite the “regrettable incident.”

In the rebel capital of Benghazi the anti-Gaddafi council also named a “crisis team,” including the former Libyan interior minister as the armed forces chief of staff, to run parts of the country it holds in its struggle to topple Gaddafi.

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – With Muammar Gaddafi’s forces fighting rebel troops only two hours’ drive from Benghazi, many shopkeepers and traders in the Libyan rebel capital are keeping their shutters firmly down.

Those who are open for business in the markets and shopping streets of the Mediterranean city say they are ready to close up at a moment’s notice should his troops advance nearer.

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – More than 400 people have gone missing in east Libya since the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi began six weeks ago, many feared killed or captured by government forces, human rights officials say.

Relatives have stuck posters on the walls of hospital lobbies with photos of missing young men and telephone numbers to call with any information.

NEAR BREGA/BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – Rebels massed for a counter-attack against Muammar Gaddafi’s forces in eastern Libya on Thursday, both encouraged by and wary of news of covert U.S. support and his foreign minister’s defection.

“We are beginning to see the Gaddafi regime crumble,” rebel spokesman Mustafa Gheriani said in the eastern town of Benghazi, while stopping short of welcoming fugitive foreign minister Moussa Koussa, a former spy chief, into the rebel fold.

NEAR BREGA/BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – Libyan rebels massed for a counter-attack against Muammar Gaddafi’s forces in the east on Thursday, both buoyed by and wary of news of covert U.S. support and his foreign minister’s defection.

“We are beginning to see the Gaddafi regime crumble,” rebel spokesman Mustafa Gheriani said in the eastern town of Benghazi, while stopping short of welcoming fugitive foreign minister Moussa Koussa, a former spy chief, into the rebel fold.

BENGHAZI, Libya, March 31 (Reuters) – Libyan leader Muammar
Gaddafi’s forces have sown land mines in areas around the city
of Ajdabiyah, adding a dangerous new element to the war on the
eastern front, human rights and mine experts said on Thursday.

The mines include Brazilian-made anti-personnel mines and
Egyptian-made anti-tank mines.

BIN JAWAD, Libya (Reuters) – Muammar Gaddafi’s forces attacked rebel fighters with a hail of machinegun and rocket fire on Tuesday, prompting a panicked, chaotic retreat beyond the town of Bin Jawad.

Rebels waiting on the open desert road leaped behind dunes and mounds of earth and shot at the Gaddafi troops as they arrived.