Ajdabia fell to a surprise assault on the 15th of March 2011. Its inhabitants woke up to the Gaddafi forces making their way through multiple ways into the city. The doctors saw the devastating results right away. The people of Ajdabia responded right away in a battle not only to defeat Gaddafi’s forces but now to defend their families and homes.

Shocking scenes in the minds of the people of Ajdabia were relayed by those who managed to escape the carnage of destruction and massacres in Ras Lanouf, Bin Jawad and Braiga. Stories of mothers and children used as human shields, and the mass killing of unarmed civilians of women children, and how the Gaddafi forces were actually aiming at hospitals and ambulances.

The brave rebel fighters in Ajdabia were able to deflect and defeat Gaddafi’s forces by killing and capturing hundreds. Some of the fighters were able to escape to Tubruq where they handed themselves over to the rebels. The armed rebel forces were kept busy with the fierce artillery assault on the western entrance to the city while the rest of the Gaddafi forces were able to corner the city and enter through other sides.
Two days before this battle I was visiting the hospital to assess their medical needs and to visit with the wounded rebels fighters just returned from battles in Ras Lanouf, Bin Jawad and Braiga. Most of them were wounded as a result of the barrage of artillery shells fired on them from the vehicles known locally as Grad, as well as the indiscriminate aerial bombing. I saw a lot of broken bones, cut off limbs and burn victims.

Egyptian surgeons and ICU specialists were moving non stop in unison with the Libya cadre of doctors who arrived from Bengazi to assist the Adjibia hospital medical team.
I asked the deputy director of Adjibia hospital about medical aid and he just said he needed more fridges because we have too many bodies for our fridge to keep. I heard many incredible stories of bravery and heroism in the hallways of the hospital. Such as the story of the Egyptian ambulance driver who was kidnapped while trying to give medical aid to Libyian rebel fighters in Raf Lanouf. Or of the group of young men who took on themselves to transport the wounded from the battlefield to the hospital by using their own cars, some of whom perished under the heavy aerial bombardment. To the bravery of the volunteer and rebel fighters who, even after getting wounded, would still remain on the battle front, refusing to back down to the Gaddafi regime.

The morgue was full of bodies, some bodies had no identity and no one came to claim them since the beginning of the conflict on February 19th, 20th and 21st. It’s almost as if those bodies were adamant to give themselves wholly to battle with no claim to fame. Some bodies were in tatters because of the brutal nature of the bombing campaigns perpetrated by Gaddafi’s regime that aims to completely destroy life.
I was honoured to meet with a special committee of volunteers who were teachers, and IT professionals. They were working on establishing a database of the wounded and killed and those missing in action. The database of names tells its own stories of comradery and martyrdom. The dead range in age from 5 to 75 but most of the dead were young men and women lending this revolution the name and nature of the youth uprising.

The MIAs are another story of humanitarian disaster caused by Gaddafi, a story so long it’s worth telling in another article.
In the hospital, stories are told again and again of the Gaddafi fighter jets and heavy artillery’s cruel game of actually aiming for ambulances. How apparently four ambulances were captured. How snipers and fighter jets both isolated and shot at medical teams in the battle zone. It was as if they were scared of the wounded soldiers. They would be right to fear them because all the wounded at the hospital say the same thing over and over again “ We want to get better to go back to the battle zone”

After the Gaddafi forces’ failed attempt to capture Ajdabia. The city hospital now is in dire need of medical and human resources due to the large number of wounded and dead there at the moment.

Gaddafi’s state TV on NileSat states “We have purified Ras Lanouf and Bin Jawad”, do they mean they purified it of people ?