Libya rebels advance into Nato bombing path

Fighters beat hasty retreat from Misrata oustkirts after bomb explodes overhead – sprinkling them with warning leaflets
A Libyan rebel holds a flyer Nato aircraft dropped outside Misrata
A Libyan rebel holds a Nato leaflet dropped outside Misrata warning of Apache air strikes. Photograph: Hassan Ammar/AP

Libyan rebel troops whooped with joy outside the besieged city of Misrata when Nato dropped leaflets threatening Apache air strikes against government forces – until they realised they were in the path of the expected bombing.

Thousands of leaflets were sprinkled from a bomb that detonated above no man's land east of the city, raining down over rebel units who had moved their frontline five miles forward from the shattered village of Dafniya. The rebels had apparently neglected to tell Nato about the move.

Cheers from rebel units turned to panic when they realised Nato assumed their positions were held by government troops.

Eduardo de Francisco, a Spanish photographer, said: "They ran for their vehicles and drove off. I have never seen them move so fast. The entire frontline moved back to Dafniya within 30 minutes."

The Nato leafleting operation came after thousands of Grad rockets and mortar shells rained down on the rebel lines west of Misrata, killing more than 70 troops and wounding 300 in the past eight days.

On Monday night, Grads fired from the western frontline landed in the suburbs of the city itself but there were no reports of civilian casualties.

The leaflets each feature a picture of an Apache helicopter and a burning tank, along with the words: "If you go on killing the children and families, you will be destroyed."

Rebel commanders say Nato has told them to treat the existing frontline as a "red line" beyond which they should not move, so that the alliance can bomb anything it sees in the territory beyond. Nato denies the rebels' claim.

It is unclear from the Nato leaflets whether air strikes are imminent or depend on Misrata sufferring further bombardment. For now, the rebels are content to watch the skies – and to stay put on their existing frontline.

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