overwhelm

ed during the battle for the city. One hospital in the Abu Salim area was abandoned while fighting raged around it. The BBC's Wyre Davies visited the hospital and sent this report.

This is one of the most

distressing

sights I have ever seen. In this hospital, around the hospital, there are hundreds of dead people - men, women and children. We don't know exactly who they are. Some are civilians; some are fighters; some are apparently African mercenaries. These people were brought to this hospital dead, some alive, some with very bad injuries. People were left here to die, and they have been left in this state now for almost a week. The stench is

appalling

.

Elsewhere in Libya, the rebels are continuing their preparations for a major assault on Sirte, Colonel Gaddafi's birthplace and a town regarded as his last major stronghold. Troops and artillery have been pouring into the oil port of Ras Lanuf, which rebel forces advancing from the east have made their front line.

The United Nations has said there's an urgent need for civilians to be protected from the Syrian government's use of

excessive

force. The statement came after the first UN mission was allowed into Syria since anti-government demonstrations began in March. The Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has used troops and tanks to

put down

the unrest. The UN says more than 2,200 civilians have been killed.

World News from the BBC