LIBYA: Remains of Gaddafi's force smoulders near Benghazi

Record ID: 339031

  • Title: LIBYA: Remains of Gaddafi's force smoulders near Benghazi
  • Date: 21st March 2011
  • Summary: HATCH OF DESTROYED APC
  • Embargoed: 5th April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Libya
  • Country: Libya
  • Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA8TEJAS6V9SAEJV5NXDS5WXJSP
  • Story Text: Smouldering remains of pro-Gaddafi convoy seen on road outside Benghazi.
    Muammar Gaddafi's wrecked tanks and other army vehicles smouldered on a strategic road in east Libya on Sunday (March 20) after Western powers launched air strikes that galvanised embattled rebels.
    Rebels from Benghazi - the scene of the Libyan leader's air, sea and land offensive in the past two weeks - were returning in 4x4 pick-ups to the town of Ajdabiyah, the hard fought over gateway to east Libya.
    The road the rebels drove was a scene of devastation. A Reuters correspondent counted at least 16 corpses, though the scale of the bombardment made identifying bodies difficult.
    About 14 tanks, 20 armoured personnel carriers, two trucks with multiple rocket launchers and dozens of pick-ups -- all destroyed -- were visible, indicating the strength of the force sent to retake Benghazi from rebels.
    One tank was a blackened wreck with its turret blown off. Another tank, a tank transporter and armoured personnel carriers smouldered. A few hundred metres (yards) ahead, munitions were still exploding as flames licked around vehicles and stores.
    Rebels had pleaded for military intervention as they were pushed back and after Gaddafi vowed "no mercy, no pity" as he advanced towards Benghazi where the interim rebel National Libyan Council has its headquarters.
    France led the calls for intervention and its planes were the first into Libyan airspace to launch raids, before U.S. and British warships and submarines fired Tomahawk missiles overnight against air defences.
    Rebels, who have mainly relied on 4x4 pickups with machine guns, were heavily outgunned by Gaddafi before the West acted. They reached the town of Bin Jawad about 525 km (330 miles) east of Tripoli before being driven back to Ajdabiyah, more than 700 km from the capital.
    Battle debris on the road out of Benghazi showed Gaddafi's forces had nearly breached the inner parts of the city.
    Near Tarria village about 20 km south of Benghazi on the highway to Ajdabiyah, locals said they had advanced up the road early on Saturday (March 19) and were only beaten back by the first foreign air strikes after fighting reached the suburbs.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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