LIBYA: Fighting rages on in coastal town of Sirte as more government fighters are wounded in what is likely to be the final battle in Libya's uprising

Record ID: 375461

  • Title: LIBYA: Fighting rages on in coastal town of Sirte as more government fighters are wounded in what is likely to be the final battle in Libya's uprising
  • Date: 19th October 2011
  • Summary: SIRTE, LIBYA (OCTOBER 18, 2011) (REUTERS) ( ** GRAPHIC MATERIAL **) VARIOUS OF NATIONAL TRANSITIONAL COUNCIL (NTC) FIGHTERS MOVING THROUGH STREETS VARIOUS OF FIGHTERS FIRING HEAVY WEAPONRY AT POSITIONS HELD BY GADDAFI LOYALISTS ON COASTAL ROAD VARIOUS OF BURNT OUT CARS VARIOUS OF WRECKED BUILDING FIGHTERS ON COASTAL ROAD (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) UNIDENTIFIED NTC FIGHTER
  • Embargoed: 3rd November 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Libya
  • Country: Libya
  • Topics: Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVA9L54A4A26H9S3XJRCOGKW4ZY0
  • Story Text: Libya's transitional government is hoping to consolidate its grip on the country but persistent resistance from loyalists to deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi in his hometown of Sirte on Tuesday (October 18) has delayed the transition to democracy.
    Government fighters in the largely destroyed town of Sirte have found advances in the coastal town against pro-Gaddafi fighters painfully slow.
    "We have liberated around 99 percent of Sirte, thank God. There's only a small section of Sirte left," one fighter said.
    Fighters raised the new Libyan flag in the centre of Bani Walid, another town which had fought fiercely to defend Gaddafi's collapsed regime.
    In Sirte, where fighting has taken weeks, there was little or no sign of the disorganised National Transitional Council (NTC) forces making since Sunday (October 16) and, amid chaos and confusion, in some places they had even been pushed back.
    Much of the fighting centred around the coastal road as fighters moved in between buildings in street-to-street fighting that has left much of the city reduced to rubble.
    A doctor for the medical aid charity Medecins Sans Frontieres in Sirte has estimated 10,000 people remain trapped in the city of 75,000. Many are women and children, some are sick or injured.
    At least four NTC fighters were killed and 30 wounded in Tuesday's fighting.
    "We went inside to the electricity intersection (area) and into the vegetable market. We received fire and we fired back and moved forward, they learnt of our position and hit us with an RPG (Rocket-Propelled Grenade) but we fired at them before they hit us, then when we left, I saw everyone had come forward, I told them to move back but then we got hit, my friend was martyred and I, thank God, had a chest wound," said wounded NTC fighter Khairallah Ahmad al-Omeiri, soon after seeing efforts to resuscitate his friend fail.
    Omeiri was describing his efforts to warn comrades of a potential ambush as they unwillingly approached a building occupied by Gaddafi loyalists.
    NTC tanks and rockets bombarded a small area of central Sirte where they have boxed in the remaining Gaddafi loyalists. Libya's new leaders say they will only begin the transition to democracy after they capture the city.
    Frustration is growing on the front line. Some fighters are irritated their commanders have not ordered a big push to take the rest of the city.
    There is also anger between government forces from Misrata to the west and Benghazi to the east, who have accused each other of hitting their allies in "friendly fire" incidents.
    Many NTC fighters abandon their positions at nightfall for more comfortable quarters further from the front line. That allows Gaddafi's men to infiltrate the lines during the night and fire at them.
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