Qaddafi Forces Have Rebel Stronghold 'Completely Surrounded'

By Anthony Shadid, New York Times

AJDABIYA, Libya — Behind tanks, heavy artillery and airstrikes, forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi routed a ragtag army of insurgents and would-be revolutionaries who were holding the last defensive line before the rebel capital of Benghazi on Tuesday.

Blasts of incoming fire came every few seconds at the edge of this city straddling a strategic highway intersection, where rebels have bulldozed berms and filled hundreds of sandbags around two metal green arches marking the western approaches to the city.

As the shelling intensified Tuesday, hundreds of cars packed with children, mattresses, suitcases — anything that could be grabbed and packed in — careened through the streets as residents fled.

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