LIBYA: Battles rage in Tripoli streets as Gaddafi forces fight on

Record ID: 374842

  • Title: LIBYA: Battles rage in Tripoli streets as Gaddafi forces fight on
  • Date: 26th August 2011
  • Summary: TRIPOLI, LIBYA (AUGUST 25, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF REBELS WITH ROCKET LAUNCHERS RUNNING THROUGH STREETS VARIOUS OF FIRES BURNING BEHIND DEAD BODIES ON ROAD VARIOUS OF ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUN ON BACK OF TRUCK, MEN GUARDING STREETS VARIOUS OF REBELS RUNNING THROUGH STREETS VERIOUS OF REBELS LOOKING DOWN GUN SIGHTS REBELS APPARENTLY WITH GADDAFI LOYALISTS TIED UP IN TRUCK
  • Embargoed: 10th September 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Libya
  • Country: Libya
  • Topics: Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVAE8UZ131E0CGWF5HCBAAEPE0F
  • Story Text: Libyan fighters continued to battle diehard followers of Muammar Gaddafi across Tripoli on Thursday (August 25), racing to find and finish off the fallen strongman and stifle any counter-attack by his family and other loyalists.
    As machinegun bursts and the crack of sniper fire kept the capital's two million civilians pinned indoors, with supplies running low, one excited group of rebels said they thought they might have trapped Gaddafi and some of his sons in a building -- though there was in fact no indication Gaddafi was inside.
    Gaddafi called on his supporters on Thursday to march on Tripoli and "purify" the capital of rebels, who he denounced as "rats, crusaders and unbelievers".
    The sense of urgency extended to the new Libyan leadership, and to their Western backers, as they tried to unlock funds to bring relief and start rebuilding the country following six months of civil war and 42 years of Gaddafi's one-man rule.
    Gaddafi's opponents fear that he may rally an insurgency, as did Saddam Hussein in Iraq, should he remain at large and, perhaps, in control of funds salted away for such a purpose.
    Two days after his headquarters in the capital fell, loyalists still appear to control his tribal home city of Sirte on the coast and were reported to be fighting at Sabha in the south.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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