Telegraph live blog

Pics from the fighting in Tripoli's loyalist Abu Selim neighbourhood made it onto the Telegraph's live blog yesterday. If anyone reading the text is wondering why it matters if the prisoners were black or not, it's because many of Ghadaffi's troops were/are hired mercenaries from elsewhere in Africa. As a result black Africans in Libya are currently getting a hard time from the rebels. The reason why the Telegraph asked about their ethnicity here was to show that they weren't necessarily all hired guns from abroad.

Troubles in Tripoli

The fighting in Tripoli over the last few days has been mainly focused around the neighbourhood of Abou Selim, a very poor and staunchly pro Gadaffi area. Rebels troops have been slowly going through the area, clearing out snipers from the buildings. As of tonight it looked like they'd 'won' the battle of Abou Selim but with nothing to stop fresh loyalists taking up postions tonight it looks like this situation could drag out for some time.

A Gadaffi soldier is captured by the rebels

Above and below: residents are caught up in the fighting

Corpses of rebels captured by Gaddafi's forces are left on the street.

Swapping shells in Ras Lanuf

On Wednesday the Rebels claimed victory after exchanging artillery fire with pro Gadhaffi forces just West of Ras Lanuf. The town had seen heavy aerial bombardment the day before so we tentatively took a four hour drive South to see how things would shape up.

 After hanging around the town for a bit, myself and videographer Sarah Lynch decided to head to the front a few kilometers down the road.  After half an hour or so of little going on,  an artillery barrage was launched by both sides lasting some 20 minutes. It was impossible to see who was achieving what in amongst it all but the day was concluded with an enormous explosion; a nearby oil refinery had gone up, sending flames some 500m high. In case you were wondering, the guy on the floor in the brown jacket got up and walked away after.