Libya rebels claim gains in besieged city

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) — Despite government claims that Moammar Gadhafi’s soldiers were withdrawing from the besieged city of Misrata, fierce fighting erupted Saturday and rebels said they had retaken control of the main thoroughfare.

The rebel gains came as the United States conducted its first Predator drone airstrike Saturday afternoon, said Pentagon spokesman Capt. Darryn James.

Keeping with U.S. practice not to comment on drone strikes, the Pentagon offered no other information.

In Misrata, an opposition spokesman told CNN that Tripoli Street, notorious now for rooftop snipers, was back in rebel hands and that they would open it back up to the public once unexploded ordnances were defused.

Battles were continuing on the eastern gates of the city, said the spokesman, who did not want to be identified for safety reasons. He said a wounded loyalist soldier told the rebels that he had not eaten in five days.

Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Khaim had said the Libyan military was withdrawing from the Misrata and that tribal leaders would deal with the rebels.

“The situation in Misrata will be eased and will be dealt with by the tribes surrounding Misrata,” Khaim told reporters. “You will see how they will be swift and quick and fast.”

He said the residents of Libya’s third largest city have been in the grip of the conflict.

“The tribal leaders have issued an ultimatum to the military saying they will deal with the situation if the military cannot do it. … They will speak with the rebels and, if there is no solution, they will fight the rebels.”

In the de facto rebel capital, Benghazi, opposition spokesman Ahmed Bani reacted to Khaim’s comments with laughter and derision.

“This confirms that our rebels in Misrata have liberated Misrata and that Libya is still in one piece, not two, the way Gadhafi hoped,” Bani said. “In regards to the tribes fighting the rebels; how would you believe that a person will fight his brother? And who are the tribes that are supporting Gadhafi, anyway?”

Bani said some of Gadhafi’s fighters were negotiating to surrender their weapons to the rebels in exchange for the assurances that they would not be harmed.

Hundreds of people have been killed in the battle for Misrata, under a bloody siege from Gadhafi’s forces for seven weeks and the scene of some of the deadliest battles in the rebels’ attempt to oust the Libyan strongman.

Human Rights Watch said Gadhafi was using internationally banned cluster bombs and other lethal munitions to indiscriminately kill civilians.

Also Saturday, an airstrike hit a parking lot outside Gadhafi’s compound in Tripoli, killing three people, government spokesman Musa Ibrahim said.

Ibrahim had no information about the identities of the dead in the attack on Bab el-Azizia.

A NATO spokesman confirmed airstrikes in central Tripoli Friday night targeting command and control bunkers but said “we have no evidence of civilian casualties.”

CNN’s Hamdi Alkshali, Reza Sayah, Saad Abedine, Frederik Pleitgen and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.