Misrata, Libya (CNN) -- A NATO airstrike Wednesday on the seaside town of Misrata killed 11 rebel fighters and wounded two others, witnesses told a reporter, who saw the bodies.
Angry survivors told Marie Colvin of The Sunday Times that they and the victims were on the coast, east of a steel plant, when a NATO plane bombed them. There were no other planes in the sky, the survivors said.
NATO spokesman Eric Povel said he knew nothing about the report and would likely not learn more for several hours.
The incident occurred on a day in which pro-government forces launched the heaviest shelling yet on the port of Misrata, much of which appeared to be a wasteland, rebels said.
"I'm looking around, I can't find a single building that's not either damaged or destroyed," CNN's Reza Sayah said from Tripoli Street, the city's major thoroughfare.
From the time NATO began its operation on March 31 until Tuesday, the organization had conducted 3,981 sorties, of which 1,658 were strike sorties, according to an update issued Wednesday.
In the vicinity of Misrata, six military vehicles, seven technical vehicles and a surface-to-air missile launcher were targeted on Tuesday, it said.
Are kids being trained to defend Gadhafi? 
Libyan city looks like a wasteland 
Map: Conflict in Libya 
U.S. Ambassador to U.K. talks Libya Witnesses said three people were killed and several were wounded after government shells detonated Tuesday near a refugee camp in the critical port area. Thousands of migrants have been housed there as they wait for ships to carry them to safety.
Opposition forces said they believe that, had NATO forces not intervened with air attacks Tuesday night, the shelling would have continued.
NATO is leading an international military operation in Libya that includes airstrikes targeting Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's military resources. It is operating under a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing any means necessary -- with the exception of foreign occupation -- to protect civilians.
A three-member panel arrived in Libya on Wednesday to begin a U.N.-ordered inquiry into reports of violence and human rights abuses. The team, led by Professor Cherif Bassiouni, an Egyptian jurist and war crimes expert, was sent by the Human Rights Council.
Last month, the U.N. General Assembly suspended Libya's membership in the Human Rights Council.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Wednesday it has established an international aid presence in Tripoli, with humanitarian workers also in Benghazi and the neighboring countries of Tunisia, Egypt, Chad and Niger.
Some 615,000 people, including large numbers of third-country nationals, have fled Libya, more than 10,000 from Misrata.
Aid agencies are seeking about $310 million for relief operations and have received $129 million, the office said.
Libyan forces attack Misrata 
UK official: Gadhafi regime will fall 
Building frequented by Gadhafi hit 
Libya's volunteer weapons makers In Washington, President Barack Obama on Wednesday authorized up to $25 million in nonlethal commodities and services to be made available to "support key U.S. government partners such as the Transitional National Council in efforts to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas under threat of attack in Libya."
The United States considers the Libyan opposition group the Transitional National Council worthy of U.S. support but has not formally recognized the group, Ambassador to Libya Gene Cretz said Wednesday. But Cretz said the lack of formal recognition has not stopped the United States from aiding and supporting the opposition.
Also Wednesday, government officials took reporters to the city of Tarhuna, south of Tripoli, where they said civilians were volunteering to be trained to defend Gadhafi from NATO. At a training camp there, reporters observed civilians learning basic military skills. Some of the volunteers appeared to be as young as 15 years old, the reporters said.
Though Gadhafi's regime said last week that it was going to suspend operations in Misrata and let tribes deal with the rebels, heavy shelling suggests pro-government forces aren't done with the city.
Misrata, the third-largest city in the North African country, has been hemmed in on three sides by Gadhafi's forces. Though rebels said they had gained control of the city's center and had pushed government forces outside the city, they said Gadhafi's forces were continuing to attack Misrata with heavy weaponry.
The port has served as a crucial route of escape and as a lifeline to humanitarian aid.
this is valuable lost because it seems that this war would not end very neer it would last like another3 or more months or it will start a real war and it will make a lost of people like the ones saw in the ww2 this could notpass becauseif this passes right now we would see a nuclearwar
