CAIRO, April 18 (Reuters) - Libyan rebels said on Monday they have gained significant ground on Misrata's bitterly contested Tripoli Street, following hours of fighting that had left several people dead or wounded.
They said rebels were trying to flush out snipers who had been entrenched on rooftops overlooking the main thoroughfare which runs from Misrata southern outskirts to the city centre.
"The revolutionaries have made progress and they are controlling some areas surrounding Tripoli Street, but danger is still there because (Gaddafi's) snipers, unlike the previous days, are now using (rocket-propelled grenades) RPG and bombs," Abdelsalam, a rebel spokesman in Misrata, told Reuters by telephone.
Tripoli Street has become a key battle ground in the seven-week siege. Medics say the fighting has killed some 1,000 people since the fighting began in February, according to Al Arabiya television.
"The bombardment of Misrata is continuing until now," Mohammed Jaber, a political activist aligned with the rebels told Al Jazeera television from Misrata.
"A large part of Tripoli Street has been liberated. The youths are trying to flush (Gaddafi supporters from) buildings on Tripoli Street," he added.
He said there were reports that some people have been killed and a large number of people wounded in the fighting. But he gave no figures.
There was no independent confirmation of the report.
Jaber said Gaddafi forces had pounded Misrata with Grad missiles and tank fire on Monday trying to keep the rebels in check.
Emergency in Misrata, an Italian medical charity which says it is the only foreign team operating at Hikmat hospital in the city, warned that the situation was one of extreme danger.
"Over the past week we have been witnessing a growing massacre of civilians due to intensifying fighting which is getting ever closer to the area where Hikmat hospital is," the group it said on its website on Monday. (Additional reporting by Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algiers and Silvia Aloisi in Dakar; Writing by Sami Aboudi, Cairo newsroom +20 2 2578 3290)
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