LIBYA: Checkpoints and cheers as Anti-Gaddafi fighters approach Bani Walid while Tripoli awaits outcome

Record ID: 559983

  • Title: LIBYA: Checkpoints and cheers as Anti-Gaddafi fighters approach Bani Walid while Tripoli awaits outcome
  • Date: 11th September 2011
  • Summary: MAN BUYING NEWSPAPER FROM KIOSK NEWSPAPERS MAN READING NEWSPAPER NEWSPAPER HEADLINE READING 'Celebrations'
  • Embargoed: 26th September 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Libya
  • Country: Libya
  • Topics: Conflict,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA46ELV7T8HNVERIA4G9CZQ5HYI
  • Story Text: Libyan fighters prepared to launch assaults on the final bastions of Muammar Gaddafi loyalists on Saturday (September 10), with battles reported inside the holdout town of Bani Walid and near the ousted ruler's home town of Sirte.
    Battles already erupted on Friday (September 9), a day before a deadline set by Libya's interim National Transitional Council (NTC) for pro-Gaddafi outposts 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.
    Anti-Gaddafi forces believe some of Gaddafi's sons, and possibly even the fallen leader himself, are holed up in Bani Walid, 150 km (95 miles) southeast of the capital.
    As the conflict entered its final stages, diplomats said Britain plans to submit a draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council early next week to start easing sanctions against Libya and establish a modest U.N. mission in the country.
    Fighters besieging Bani Walid went in a day ahead of the deadline to protect civilians and were locked in street-to-street fighting with Gaddafi forces, an NTC official near the town said. Battles also began outside Sirte in response to barrages of rockets fired by pro-Gaddafi forces.
    "The situation is good. We are winning, God's willing. We are winning. We are able to advance more than in the past few days. We are ready in terms of people, in terms of ammunition," said one of the fighters who arrived at the checkpoint, Wagdi al-Assadi.
    Elsewhere, in Tripoli, residents awaited the outcome to the battle.
    Libyan newspapers on Saturday carried reports of Friday's celebrations over the ousting of Gaddafi, while Tripoli residents continued to hope for swift resolution to the conflict.
    "Our brothers in Bani Walid should join the rebels, support them and hand over their weapons to avoid bloodshed," said Mohammad Ayad in a coffee house.
    Bani Walid and Sirte, along with 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.
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