Nicki Sobecki

Battle for Libya

A boy stands on the roof of one of Muammar Gaddafi's old palaces in Benghazi, burned down by the opposition forces.
   
(l) Rebel fighters walk on the road from the oil refinery checkpoint at Ras Lanuf to the town. Plumes of smoke turned skies a somber gray after warplanes struck a fuel-storage tank at the refinery and fighters set tires on fire in a futile attempt to provide cover. (r) A group of rebel fighters gather near the car of a man who was killed when a air strike hit his car near Ras Lanuf.
   
Anti-Gaddafi protesters chant slogans during a protest in Benghazi.
     
  
(l) Mourners gather near the coffins of Libyans who were killed in recent clashes in Benghazi.(r) Libyans demonstrated against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in Benghazi.
   
A man walks through a destroyed government complex that was ransacked and burned by the opposition.
  
(l) A man comforted his daughter before putting her on a ship to Tunisia. Libyans and foreign nationals board a ferry for evacuation to Tunisia.(r) Heavy fighting continued between opposition fighters, seen in photo, and government soldiers on the road between Ras Lanuf and Bin Jawad.
     
  
A rebel prays on the road between Ras Lanuf and Bin Jawad just before heavy fighting broke out.
   
(l) People gather to see the dead body of a fighter loyal to Colonel Gaddafi at the hospital in Brega which remained under opposition control.(r) A rebel soldier injured in fighting between opposition forces and those loyal to Colonel Gaddafi in Brega.
  
(l) Reinforcements for opposition forces in and south of Brega drive through a checkpoint on the edge of Ajdabiyeh. (r) A rebel fighter smokes at the checkpoint near the Ras Lanuf oil refinery. Opposition fighters continue to clear the flanks of the east-west highway as they push 25 miles west of Ras Lanuf, a strategic oil town in eastern Libya.
     
  
Opposition fighters wake up at dawn in a small building at the rebel-held checkpoint near the Ras Lanuf oil refinery.
   
(l) A crowd gathers outside the hospital in Brega as fighting between opposition forces and those loyal to Colonel Gaddafi continues in the city.(r) Opposition troops stab a portrait of Muammar Gaddafi as they celebrated taking Ras Lanuf.
  
Smoke from an oil tanker that had been hit streamed across the checkpoint near the Ras Lanuf refinery.
     
  
Rebels take cover from a barrage of artillery shells, missiles and sniper fire along the road from Ras Lanuf to Bin Jawad.
   
(l) Government forces Forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi lead an air strike, hitting a checkpoint near the Ras Lanuf oil refinery, killing two rebels. (r) A man covered the face of Mohammad Abdul Salam, who was killed in fighting between opposition forces and those loyal to Colonel Gaddafi, at the morgue in the hospital in Brega. (r)
  
Rebel fighters make tea at the Brega checkpoint besides burning tires that had been lit by the fighters to provide cover from air strikes.