LIBYA: Libyan transitional government forces say they have cornered Muammar Gaddafi loyalists in the centre of the deposed leader's hometown of Sirte, where desperate civilians were still trying to flee the fierce street fighting

Record ID: 375528

  • Title: LIBYA: Libyan transitional government forces say they have cornered Muammar Gaddafi loyalists in the centre of the deposed leader's hometown of Sirte, where desperate civilians were still trying to flee the fierce street fighting
  • Date: 12th October 2011
  • Summary: MORE OF TRUCK BEING LOADED TRUCK DRIVING OFF
  • Embargoed: 27th October 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Libya
  • Country: Libya
  • Topics: Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVA3YD4LQCGIDPONO810OO6ICK9T
  • Story Text: Libyan transitional government forces were in positions on Tuesday (October 11) which they believe have cornered Muammar Gaddafi loyalists in the centre of the deposed leader's hometown, as desperate civilians still try to flee the fighting.
    National Transitional Council (NTC) commanders say they are using only light weapons, but government tanks have also moved into road intersections and pounded Gaddafi positions, while pick-up trucks mounted with heavy weapons as well as foot soldiers darted out of cover to fire wildly up ahead.
    One NTC fighter said a real danger came from snipers.
    "Well, every place that we take over, we take positions there but there are snipers still. The area consists of highrise buildings and the snipers are firing from there," said NTC Field Commander Mohammad Brikish.
    At times, NTC units came under fire from their own side, a hazard becoming more acute as the poorly coordinated groups of government volunteers attacking from the east and west close in on one another.
    Most of the NTC forces attacking Sirte are from other towns and do not have much help from the inside as they did they when they captured the capital Tripoli on Aug. 23, ending 42 years of one-man rule by Gaddafi after six months of civil war.
    Many civilians from Sirte are also fighting alongside the remnants of Gaddafi's army in the belief the outsiders will commit atrocities once they capture the city of 75,000 people, which Gaddafi built into a lavish second capital.
    NTC forces in Sirte took three important landmark buildings on Sunday (October 9) -- the main hospital, the university and the opulent Ouagadougou conference centre, built by Gaddafi to host the summits of foreign dignitaries.
    NTC forces have repeatedly claimed to be on the point of victory in Sirte, only to suffer sudden reversals at the hands of tenacious enemies fighting for their lives, surrounded on three sides and with their backs to the sea.
    The protracted battle for Sirte has raised concerns that civilian casualties could breed long-term hostility and make it hard for the National Transitional Council (NTC) to unite the vast North African state once the fighting is over.
    On the outskirts of Sirte, civilians loaded their belongings onto the back of trucks in an attempt to flee the fighting. Dozens of people, including children clutching dolls and blankets, were quickly trying to gather their possessions and escape. They said they originally came from Morocco and Sudan.
    "We are going where God wants us to go we don't know where to, but we are going anyway, maybe to Misrata or Tripoli. I just want to tell my family that we are all okay," said one Moroccan woman, displaced by the fighting.
    Muammar Gaddafi himself is not in Sirte, according to NTC officials coordinating the hunt for him, but is instead believed to be far to the south in the Sahara desert.
    Sirte, once a fishing village, has symbolic significance because Gaddafi used it as a prop in the personality cult he built during his 42 year rule.
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