Libyan rebels have launched an apparently co-ordinated two-pronged offensive against pro-Gaddafi forces, striking from bases in the western mountains south-west of Tripoli and from the besieged city of Misrata, 130 miles to the east.
Fighters from Misrata began their biggest offensive in six weeks on Wednesday aimed at breaking the ring of government forces at the town of Zlitan, on the road to the Libyan capital.
To the west rebel forces surged out of mountain strongholds around the town of Zintan in pick-up trucks mounted with rocket launchers and anti-aircraft weapons.
They seized a government base at the village of al-Qawalish, taking weapons and food abandoned by retreating pro-Gaddafi troops.
Rebel authorities have refused to confirm whether the two offensives are linked. A Misratan commander, Hassan Duen, told the Guardian: "Our forces are now 3km from Zlitan. We are pushing onwards."
A source said a preliminary attack began on Tuesday with rebel units concentrating on one side of the main Tripoli highway, gaining ground and supporting the second larger attack launched in the early hours on Wednesday.
Gunfire and explosions from grad rockets echoed every few seconds across Misrata from before dawn, mixing with the wail of ambulance sirens and Islamic chants broadcast from its mosques to comfort the bereaved. The blasts from incoming government rockets continued into the late afternoon.
Misrata's Hikma hospital reported 12 dead and 24 wounded by mid-afternoon as a steady stream of ambulances arrived in the forecourt throughout the day. The death toll is expected to rise, adding to the 17 dead from two days of fighting around the city.
Crowds of fighters and anxious family members milled around the hospital grounds, with cries of "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) ringing out each time a fatality was brought out, wrapped in a green blanket.
"Now it is too crowded. We have no beds any more," said a senior doctor, Omar Harrous, dressed in a blue surgical smock and hollow-eyed from lack of sleep. Volunteers with brooms and buckets of water waited for ambulances to leave to wash away blood on the tarmac.
The rebels are under growing pressure to produce results as the war approaches its fifth month and with the frontlines in deadlock.
Misrata's units have launched a series of bloody attacks against Zlitan over the past month, each time failing to break through a defensive belt of government troops dug in around the town.
Reports from the frontline say rebel units overran government checkpoints and bases in the wooded hill country between Misrata and Zlitan.
In the past two weeks Nato jets have stepped up bombing of government positions around the town and towards the coast, aided by naval gunfire against shore positions.
But rebel forces face a difficult task without sufficient firepower to make a decisive breakthrough, lacking tanks and artillery, and with Nato apparently unwilling to use its jets and attack helicopters in co-ordinated air support roles.
