Insurgents
have been celebrating amid the ruins of tanks and artillery
pieces left behind after air strikes. Gaddafi loyalists
seized the town last week as they advanced east to quell
an uprising which began in mid-February.
Gadhafi's forces have withdrawn from Ajdabiya, Deputy Foreign
Minister Khaled Kaim said shortly after rebels touted victory
in Ajdabiya, considered a gateway to Libya's oil fields
and a key stopping point on route to the rebel stronghold
of Benghazi.
Opposition
fighters took control of Ajdabiya overnight after coalition
fighter jets again bombed Libyan tanks that have been entrenched
at the city's northern and western gates for days, opposition
spokesman Jalal al-Gallal said.
At
the northern entrance, damaged tanks lay strewn across the
rolling desert. The buildings around the city entrances
were riddled with bullet holes.
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