(Reuters) - More than a hundred government rockets crashed into Misrata on Friday after Western allies denounced a "medieval siege" of the city and vowed to keep bombing Muammar Gaddafi's forces until he stepped down
A local doctor told Al Jazeera at least eight people died and seven others were wounded in the second day of intense bombardment of Misrata, a lone rebel bastion in western Libya.
An Amnesty International researcher in the city said several people were killed as they queued for bread on Thursday.
Residents told Al Jazeera at least 120 rockets had hit the city, where hundreds of civilians are reported to have died in a six-week siege.
The attack followed intense fire from Russian-made Grad rocket launchers into a residential district on Thursday when rebels said 23 people died, mostly women and children. They said more than 200 missiles fell in the port.
The leaders of Britain, France and the United States said in a joint newspaper article that they would press on with their three-week-old air campaign until Gaddafi left power.
"It is unthinkable that someone who has tried to massacre his own people can play a part in their future government."
The suffering of Misrata is heaping pressure on Western allies to step up air attacks to stop the bombardment, but NATO is split over providing more planes for the task.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague and NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen voiced optimism that allies would supply more combat planes, but Italy immediately ruled out ordering its aircraft to open fire.
The clear intention of Britain, France and the United States to achieve regime change in Libya goes beyond the explicit terms of a United Nations resolution authorizing air strikes to protect civilians and other allies have misgivings.
Russia warned the alliance not to use excessive force and called for a political settlement to end the civil war.
Gaddafi's daughter Aisha told a rally in Tripoli that demanding his departure was an insult.
STRONGLY WORDED ARTICLE
Libyan state television said NATO planes had attacked Gaddafi's birthplace of Sirte on the Mediterranean coast, and Al-Aziziyah south of Tripoli on Friday.
In their strongly worded article, published on both sides of the Atlantic, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and U.S. President Barack Obama said leaving Gaddafi in power would be an "unconscionable betrayal."
News collect from= http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/15/us-libya-idUSTRE7270JP20110415
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