LIBYA: Battles ignite around Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte

Record ID: 375431

  • Title: LIBYA: Battles ignite around Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte
  • Date: 10th September 2011
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FIGHTER, YOUNIS EL-ATTAR, SAYING: "This is the body of one of the soldiers of the tyrant. When they pulled back, we fired at them. They withdrew, and we are now about 90 km away of Sirte, after Oum Massouda. They have with them civilians and families and are using them as human shields, and there is even an old woman who got shot." VARIOUS OF REMAINS
  • Embargoed: 25th September 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Libya
  • Country: Libya
  • Topics: Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVA587RKGJRNGMD448VGK1E2CZC6
  • Story Text: Fighters loyal to Libya's new rulers launched what appeared to be assaults on the final bastions of Muammar Gaddafi loyalists on Friday (September 9), with fighting reported inside the town of Bani Walid and near Gaddafi's home town of Sirte.
    The battles at the two towns broke out a day before a deadline set by Libya's interim National Transitional Council for Gaddafi holdout towns to surrender or face onslaughts.
    NTC officials said the outbreaks of fighting meant the ceasefire had effectively been scrapped. That could pave the way for some of the final battles of a six-month civil war.
    An NTC spokesman said battles had begun outside Sirte in response to barrages of rockets fired by pro-Gaddafi forces. Reuters cameras captured the aftermath of one battle, with at least one Gaddafi loyalist killed. NTC fighters said Gaddafi forces were using civilians as human shields.
    "This is the body of one of the soldiers of the tyrant. When they pulled back, we fired at them. They withdrew, and we are now about 90 km away of Sirte, after Oum Massouda. They have with them civilians and families and are using them as human shields, and there is even an old woman who got shot," said one anti-Gaddafi fighter.
    NTC spokesman Ahmed Bani said battles had erupted close to a river near Sirte after pro-Gaddafi forces fired rockets at NTC forces laying siege to it. The coastal city was just a village when Gaddafi was born there 69 years ago, but has become a power base, lavished with cash under his rule.
    Sirte, along with Bani Walid and the remote desert outpost of Sabha, are the main areas still in control of Gaddafi loyalists since NTC fighters overran his Tripoli headquarters last month. The NTC said it had also dispatched hundreds of fighters deep into the desert, headed towards Sabha where it was advancing.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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