[Shaun]

More than 200 decomposing bodies have been found abandoned at a hospital in a district of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, that has seen fierce fighting.

A BBC correspondent found corpses of men, women and children on beds and in the corridors of Abu Salim's hospital.

Doctors and nurses fled after clashes erupted nearby between rebel forces and those loyal to Col Muammar Gaddafi.

Some residents accused the regime of murdering those at the hospital, but it is not yet clear how exactly they died.

Meanwhile, rebel forces faced stiff resistance as they advanced on Sirte, Col Gaddafi's birthplace and the town regarded as his last stronghold.

Rebel commanders said they were consolidating their frontline at the oil port town of Ras Lanuf, after withdrawing from positions nearer Sirte to put themselves out of range of rockets fired by pro-Gaddafi forces.

The UK said its planes carried out an overnight missile attack on a large command-and-control bunker in Sirte.

There were also reports of intense fighting in and around Tripoli's international airport, although the centre of the city is mainly quiet.
'No government'

The BBC's Wyre Davies in Tripoli says the scene at the hospital in Abu Salim was one of the most appalling and distressing he had ever seen.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

We need professional help, from the international Red Cross, because there has been a massacre in Abu Salim”

Osama Pilil Abu Salim resident

Around the hospital, on gurneys and in corridors, there were hundreds of dead people - men, women and children, our correspondent says.

It is not known exactly who they were, but some were civilians, some fighters, some apparently African mercenaries, he adds.

Residents said some had been alive when they were brought to the hospital, albeit with very bad injuries. Others had already died.

However, the hospital was closed because the medical staff had fled the fighting, and the people were left there to die, they added.

"These bodies have been here in the hospital for five days. Nobody has taken care of them - to bring them to the mortuary, to identify them, to bury them," Osama Pilil, a local, told the BBC.

"We need help. It is very urgent. There is no government here. We need professional help, from the International Red Cross, because there has been a massacre in Abu Salim," he added.

Our correspondent says the stench was appalling.

Local people are trying to clean up some of the mess and to return the hospital to normality, but that is an impossible task because of the sheer number of bodies, he adds.

imagine discovering that... eugh.

[Iceman]

That's quite disturbing Poor People.

[Grimnir]

NATO and the rebels are evil scum

[lostalex]

Originally Posted by Grimnir

NATO and the rebels are evil scum

I really hope you are joking.

Yes how dare the Libyan people think they have the right to self determination. What horrible evil people wanting to run their own country instead of being run by a psychotic dictator. Those rebels, such evil scum.

...and NATO, keeping Ghaddaffi from murdering millions of his own people, keeping him from "going door to door, kiling everyone who is not loyal to me" as Ghaddaffi himself put it. Man those NATO guys, such evil scum.

[Grimnir]

Originally Posted by lostalex

I really hope you are joking.

Yes how dare the Libyan people think they have the right to self determination. What horrible evil people wanting to run their own country instead of being run by a psychotic dictator. Those rebels, such evil scum.

...and NATO, keeping Ghaddaffi from murdering millions of his own people, keeping him from "going door to door, kiling everyone who is not loyal to me" as Ghaddaffi himself put it. Man those NATO guys, such evil scum.

all that you said there is bull**** propaganda

[lostalex]

Originally Posted by Grimnir

all that you said there is bull**** propaganda

The only one that's been listening to Propaganda is you, where do you get your news? Libyan state controlled TV? Or maybe that beacon of independent journalism Russia Today? lol

[joeysteele]

I think this a really horrific story and we don't know yet who is to blame in the main, After all the rebels (who I have a lot of suspicion of as to what their make up really is),have only just gone into Tripoli, so is this down to Gaddafi's forces or them.

People in hospital seem to have been abandoned too when it all reached Tripoli, or even before.
I think many more horrors that are not going to be linked at all to the rebels or NATO but only at Gaddafi's and his forces door will start being found at alarming rates.

I didn't and still think that we should not have been involved in Libya,I am however gald that another despot is being overthrown just like Saddam Hussein was and hopefully this one too will face World justice.

[MTVN]

Oh good, our resident TiBB Gaddafi Loyalist is here

[Patrick]

Can this Gaddafi ***** just hurry up and drop dead already?

Fed up hearing about Libya fighting and that's just vile [what happened at the hospital].