LIBYA: Gaddafi forces holed in Sirte offer fierce resistance as the main hospital struggles to cope with an endless flow of wounded

Record ID: 376700

  • Title: LIBYA: Gaddafi forces holed in Sirte offer fierce resistance as the main hospital struggles to cope with an endless flow of wounded
  • Date: 11th October 2011
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ABDULLA TOBEIGA, SURGEON, SAYING: "The humanitarian situation was very, very bad. We had a severe lack of medicine, medical personnel and assistants. There was only about three or four doctors at the hospital and a lack of nurses." MAN WALKING PAST PATIENTS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ABDULLA TOBEIGA, SURGEON, SAYING: "We tried as much as we could despite
  • Embargoed: 26th October 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Libya
  • Country: Libya
  • Topics: Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVA2AEV83MOLZOJGLN3WEGZWZQ00
  • Story Text: Libyan transitional government forces said they had cornered Muammar Gaddafi loyalists in the centre of the deposed leader's hometown on Monday (October 10), but many desperate civilians were still trying to flee the fierce street fighting.
    The protracted battle for Sirte, built up by Gaddafi as a showpiece town on the Mediterranean coast, has raised concerns that civilian casualties could breed long-term hostility making it hard for the National Transitional Council (NTC) to unite the vast North African state once the fighting is over.
    NTC commanders say they are only using 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. At times, NTC units came under fire from their own side, a hazard becoming more acute as the rag-tag groups of government volunteers attacking from the east and west close in on one another.
    Most of the government 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 and ended 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. NTC fighters paraded three young men in civilian dress who they said were Gaddafi loyalists.
    NTC forces in Sirte took three important landmark buildings on Sunday -- the main hospital, the university and the opulent Ouagadougou conference centre, built to host the summits of foreign dignitaries that Gaddafi was fond of staging. Gunbattles raged on Monday around the conference centre.
    Conditions inside the Ibn Sina hospital are described as atrocious by exhausted doctors and medical staff who are working around the clock to treat a tide of wounded.
    "The humanitarian situation was very, very bad. We had a severe lack of medicine, medical personnel and assistants. There was only about three or four doctors at the hospital and a lack of nurses," said surgeon, Abdulla Tobeiga.
    "We tried as much as we could despite the lack of resources. We tried our best. We work day and night, sleeping only 1 or two hours a night. In addition there were some volunteers to help us. We taught them how to change dressings on the patients," he added.
    Doctors at the hospital said they were treating between 70 and 100 patients at any one time, including civilians and fighters. Patients are being treated in hospital corridors away from windows.
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