LIBYA: A National Transitional Council (NTC) fighter tells Reuters he is awaiting instructions to enter one of Muammar Gaddafi's last strongholds

Record ID: 560690

  • Title: LIBYA: A National Transitional Council (NTC) fighter tells Reuters he is awaiting instructions to enter one of Muammar Gaddafi's last strongholds
  • Date: 14th September 2011
  • Summary: OUTSKIRTS OF BANI WALID, LIBYA (SEPTEMBER 13, 2011) (REUTERS) BUILDINGS IN BANI WALID, CURRENTLY HELD BY FORCES LOYAL TO MUAMMAR GADDAFI / NATIONAL TRANSITIONAL COUNCIL (NTC) TROOPS NORTHERN GATE OF BANI WALID VARIOUS OF NTC ROADBLOCK GUN / BANI WALID IN BACKGROUND VARIOUS OF NTC FIGHTERS VARIOUS OF NTC-SEIZED BUILDING CONTAINING CONFISCATED WEAPONS NTC TROOPS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) NATIONAL TRANSITIONAL COUNCIL FIGHTER MOHAMMED ALI, SAYING "There were many battles and we are still at it as the national army is not allowing us through to pull out Gaddafi's armed gangs." NTC FIGHTERS NEXT TO WEAPONS VARIOUS OF CONFISCATED WEAPONS
  • Embargoed: 29th September 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Libya
  • Country: Libya
  • Topics: Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVADV5CQF5KGY2UTUQ1BQDSSUQRA
  • Story Text: Fighters of Libya's ruling National Transitional Council on Tuesday (September 13) waited at the northern gate of Bani Walid, ready to attack the city.
    Wary of alienating a powerful local tribe, fighters backing Libya's new rulers are urging families to leave the besieged town of Bani Walid before resorting to full-scale military force to take one of Muammar Gaddafi's last strongholds.
    The drawn-out standoff at the town -- home of Libya's biggest tribe, the Warfalla -- has turned the obscure oasis 180 km (100 miles) south of Tripoli into a new flashpoint in the North African nation's seven-month-long war.
    Libya's new rulers are keen to bring the stubborn town into the fold as quickly as possible but have hesitated to employ heavy-handed tactics that could estrange the Warfalla and derail their efforts to create an all-inclusive government.
    National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters at the northern gate of the city said they were giving civilians two more days to leave Bani Walid before mounting a full-scale assault. A radio address transmitted from the nearby town of Tarhouna was appealing to people to leave to safer areas, fighters said.
    Reuters spoke to fighters at the gate, 1.5km north of the city, as they looked into the Gaddafi-held enclave.
    "There were many battles and we are still at it as the national army is not allowing us through to pull out Gaddafi's armed gangs," said NTC fighter Mohammed Ali.
    Along with Gaddafi's home town of Sirte on the Mediterranean coast and the loyalist bastion of Sabha deep in the Sahara, Bani Walid is one of the last pockets of Gaddafi resistance.
    Die-hard loyalists of the fugitive leader have put up stiffer than expected resistance, firing rockets and mortars from inside Bani Walid and deploying snipers in the town centre.
    Fighters and residents said Gaddafi forces in the town centre still had plenty of support among local households who are defiantly flying Gaddafi's green flags above their homes.
    Their cars and trucks loaded with sacks of personal belongings, families have poured out of Bani Walid, a scattering of sun-scorched houses spread around a terrain of rocky hills and valleys.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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