LIBYA: Fleeing refugee says pro-Gaddafi "gangs" are "executing people" in the streets of Sirte, specifically targeting families who originally hail from Misrata

Record ID: 375618

  • Title: LIBYA: Fleeing refugee says pro-Gaddafi "gangs" are "executing people" in the streets of Sirte, specifically targeting families who originally hail from Misrata
  • Date: 23rd September 2011
  • Summary: SIRTE, LIBYA (SEPTEMBER 22, 2011) (REUTERS) VEHICLES CARRYING PEOPLE FLEEING SIRTE AT NTC CHECKPOINT, APPROXIMATELY 4 KM WEST OF TOWN CENTRE LIBYAN FORCES CHECKING VEHICLES MORE OF ROAD, JAMMED WITH TRAFFIC, LIBYAN PICKUP WITH MOBILE ROCKET LAUNCHER AND FIGHTERS ABOARD OVERTAKES TRAFFIC QUEUE CAR DRIVING PAST, CHILDREN WAVING REBEL FLAGS OUT OF THE BACK WINDOW LIBYAN
  • Embargoed: 8th October 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Libya
  • Country: Libya
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAAZ8BEU30G3804RTNMBT6S6OD0
  • Story Text: The number of residents fleeing the besieged southern Libyan town of Sirte grew on Thursday (September 22), according to Reuters journalists on the frontline.
    Hundreds of vehicles, crammed with families and possessions, passed through a National Transitional Council (NTC) checkpoint, four kilometres west of the town centre.
    Many of those fleeing said they were from Misrata but had been living in Sirte for some years. One Misrata native said pro-Gaddafi gangs were targeting families from Misrata and executing them in the street in bloody revenge for the city's fierce resistance during the uprising.
    "With regards to us, the people of Misrata, they've started killing us. Today they killed a number of people, they were martyred, they killed them on the streets," said Mohamed Abdullah, who told a Reuters journalist that he had personally witnessed killings.
    "Things like I've never seen before, they're like gangs in the city, like gangs,'' Abdullah said of what he had seen.
    NTC forces were pushed back from advancing on Sirte on Thursday (September 22) after they came under fire by forces loyal to ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi.
    Meanwhile, Gaddafi's spokesman said on Thursday that NATO air strikes and shelling of Sirte by interim government forces on Wednesday and Thursday had killed 151 people.
    Spokesman Moussa Ibrahim, in a satellite phone call to Reuters in Tunis, also said the city's main hospital had run out of medical supplies and power.
    His claims could not immediately be verified as Sirte, Gaddafi's hometown, is largely cut off from communication and is besieged on three fronts by ruling NTC forces.
    A NATO official told Reuters that it had attacked Sirte over the last 48 hours, but that the most significant target was a Gaddafi command centre.
    At the time of that strike, NATO had no indication there were any civilians in the area and Ibrahim's claims of civilian deaths were "unsubstantiated," he said.
    Sirte is one of only two major towns still under the control of pro-Gaddafi forces after the NTC took over most of another stronghold, Sabha, on Wednesday (September 21).
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