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                <p>TRIPOLI (AFP) – A high-ranking African Union delegation arrived in Libya on Sunday to try to negotiate a truce between Moamer Kadhafi's forces and rebels seeking to oust him, an AFP reporter said.</p>
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The peace mission came as NATO warplanes were in action against Kadhafi loyalists in the stricken port city of Misrata after regime forces killed at least 11 people there over the weekend, rebels said.</p>
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The African mediators were welcomed by Kadhafi supporters holding the veteran Libyan leader's picture and waving the green flags of his regime.</p>
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Presidents Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania, Mali's Amadou Toumani Toure, Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo, Jacob Zuma of South Africa, and Ugandan Foreign Minister Henry Oryem Okello, representing Yoweri Museveni, flew in to Mitiga airport near Tripoli.</p>
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<a rel="nofollow"></a><a rel="nofollow"></a><a rel="nofollow" title="jpeg"></a><a rel="nofollow" title="Mpeg4-640x360"> They joined the embattled Kadhafi for a photocall outside his Bedouin tent in his Bab al-Aziziya compound before being driven by minibus to greet a crowd of his supporters some 200 metres (yards) away and then leaving for an undisclosed destination.</a></p>
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The AU team is due to fly to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) east of Tripoli, later on Sunday in its effort to broker a truce in the deadly conflict.</p>
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The opposition has already said it rejects any ceasefire that would mean Kadhafi or his sons remain in power.</p>
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Earlier, the mediators reiterated their appeal for "an immediate end to all hostilities" and proposed a transition period to adopt reforms in the insurrection-hit country.</p>
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The NATO operation's commander confirmed that NATO warplanes had destroyed 11 regime tanks on the road to the eastern Libyan town of Ajdabiya and another 14 tanks near Misrata.</p>
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"The situation in Ajdabiya, and Misrata in particular, is desperate for those Libyans who are being brutally shelled by the regime," said Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard.</p>
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"To help protect these civilians we continue to strike these forces hard, with 11 tanks destroyed today as they approached Ajdabiya, and 14 tanks destroyed earlier this morning in the outskirts of Misrata," he said.</p>
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On the battlefield, rebels said on Sunday they had captured 15 Algerian mercenaries and killed another three during fierce fighting in Ajdabiya the previous day.</p>
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Medics also said at least 12 rebels were killed in and around Ajdabiya over the weekend.</p>
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Officials at Benghazi's Jala hospital said it had received nine "martyrs" from the fighting and 14 wounded people, and a doctor at Al-Hawwara hospital said it had received three dead and three wounded.</p>
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Air strikes on Misrata came on Sunday morning, a rebel spokesman in the besieged town told AFP, calling the raids "a marked improvement in NATO intervention."</p>
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"They began the raids yesterday on the Kadhafi forces in the northwest of the town and near the centre of Misrata," said the spokesman.</p>
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"In the morning, there were new raids but we are not able to verify the targets," he said, adding eight rebels were killed by pro-Kadhafi forces and 22 others were wounded on Saturday.</p>
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A doctor at Misrata hospital gave AFP the same death toll for Saturday, saying they included civilians, while putting the number of wounded at 25.
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The doctor said the hospital had received three bodies on Sunday, two rebels and a civilian, adding it was possible there could be more fatalities at other medical facilities.
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"Clearly the situation in Ajdabiya is desperate and Kadhafi forces are attacking the town with heavy weapons," a NATO official in Brussels told AFP on condition of anonymity.
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Bouchard said in a statement: "We are hitting the regime logistics facilities as well as their heavy weapons because we know Kadhafi is finding it hard to sustain his attacks on civilians."
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Loud explosions rocked Ajdabiya for a second day on Sunday, as rebels advanced cautiously after suffering a major reverse at the hands of loyalists.
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The alliance had already taken out 15 tanks near Misrata on Friday and Saturday, bringing to 29 the total number of tanks destroyed around Libya's third largest city in the past three days.
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Western strikes against regime forces began on March 19 under a UN mandate to protect the population after Kadhafi unleashed his security forces to quell pro-democracy protests.
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The United States handed control of the operation to NATO on March 31.
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Libyan rebels have criticised NATO in recent days, accusing the alliance of failing to protect the people of Misrata.
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But NATO says it is picking up the pace of air strikes.
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Rebel spokesman Shamsiddin Abdulmolah told AFP in Benghazi that 18 men they captured near Ajdabiya were not carrying identification, but "they said they were Algerian and they had Algerian accents."
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"They were claiming to be selling hashish... and they had hashish with them. This is the whole crazy thing about it," he said.
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He also said several Algerian ID cards and passports were found in a nearby building in Ajdabiya.
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The Algerian foreign ministry categorically denied the charge, its spokesman Amar Belani told AFP.
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Abdulmolah said the group of 18 were led into the frontline town by a local resident allied with Kadhafi's regime, who was also captured, adding that all the detainees were being treated well.
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He accused Algeria of backing Kadhafi and of "turning a blind eye" to the mercenaries flowing into Libya. The rebels have long accused Kadhafi of using hired guns from Chad and Niger.
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An Associated Press photographer named by the agency as 35-year-old Indian Altaf Qadri has gone missing near Ajdabiya, AP said on Sunday.
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"We are concerned about his safety and are taking appropriate steps to locate him," it said in a statement.</p>
            </div></div><p><strong>Read more:</strong> <a class="rssreadon" rel="external" title="African mediators in Libya amid NATO air strikes   (AFP)" href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110410/wl_africa_afp/libyaconflict" target="_blank">http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110410/wl_africa_afp/libyaconflict</a></p>