Libyans corner Gadhafi's son in Sirte
Source: Agencies |
October 12, 2011, Wednesday
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LIBYAN government forces said yesterday they believed they had one of Moammar Gadhafi's sons cornered in the center of the deposed leader's home town, but determined resistance was keeping them at bay.
After weeks of fighting, National Transitional Council forces have taken most of Sirte and driven Gadhafi loyalists into two northern neighborhoods near the Mediterranean shore.
Capturing the city, which Gadhafi had turned into a showcase second capital, will consolidate the NTC's control in Libya and allow it to focus on rebuilding the country, but international concern about civilians caught up in the fighting has mounted.
One NTC commander said Gadhafi fighters were defending their last two districts in Sirte tenaciously because Mo'tassim Gadhafi, his father's national security adviser, was with them.
Colonel Mohammed Ajhseer said: "There are a few (Gadhafi-held) pockets. According to the information we have, this is where Mo'tassim is."
As fighting raged in the streets, terrified families were emerging from their houses and trying to leave.
NTC fighters surrounded their vehicles and searched them for weapons - a mark of the deep distrust in Sirte, where many people belong to Gadhafi's tribe and oppose his overthrow.
"There are explosions all the time," said one woman in a van with seven children. "There is no water. There is nothing."
One man said he and his family had tried to leave the city twice before but had to turn back because they had no fuel for the car and the fighting was too heavy.
"We did not know how to sleep because of the explosions. We could not even leave the house. There is no food. We just had flour and salt and bread," he said.
On the western outskirts of Sirte, a flat-bed truck drove out carrying about 30 people, including children clutching dolls and blankets. It was raining, and they were wet and shivering.
They said they originally came from Morocco and Sudan, and had been trapped in Sirte because Gadhafi militias would not let them leave. One of them, Abdul Menem Ahmed, said: "The Gadhafi militias say everything is fine, then about 10 minutes later the shelling starts. There is no food, no water, no medicine," he said.
The fighting yesterday focused on Omar al-Mokhtar street, a tree-lined thoroughfare in a well-heeled neighborhood.
Typically for an amateur fighting force, the NTC effort was brave but chaotic. One bearded man in a wheelchair was pushed into the main street by a comrade. He fired his Kalashnikov rifle at Gadhafi loyalists and was pushed back to safety.
Gadhafi himself is not in Sirte, according to NTC officials coordinating the hunt for him, but is believed to be far to the south in the Sahara desert.
With Libya's new rulers focused on the bruising battles for Sirte and Bani Walid, another pro-Gadhafi town, a political vacuum has emerged. There is no formal government and the process of holding elections is on hold.
Armed anti-Gadhafi factions from different regions are vying for power, complicating the NTC's task of asserting national control in the oil-exporting nation of six million people.
Sirte, once a fishing village, has symbolic significance because Gadhafi used it as a prop in the personality cult he built during his 42 year rule. He built opulent villas, hotels and conference halls to host Arab and African leaders.
After weeks of fighting, National Transitional Council forces have taken most of Sirte and driven Gadhafi loyalists into two northern neighborhoods near the Mediterranean shore.
Capturing the city, which Gadhafi had turned into a showcase second capital, will consolidate the NTC's control in Libya and allow it to focus on rebuilding the country, but international concern about civilians caught up in the fighting has mounted.
One NTC commander said Gadhafi fighters were defending their last two districts in Sirte tenaciously because Mo'tassim Gadhafi, his father's national security adviser, was with them.
Colonel Mohammed Ajhseer said: "There are a few (Gadhafi-held) pockets. According to the information we have, this is where Mo'tassim is."
As fighting raged in the streets, terrified families were emerging from their houses and trying to leave.
NTC fighters surrounded their vehicles and searched them for weapons - a mark of the deep distrust in Sirte, where many people belong to Gadhafi's tribe and oppose his overthrow.
"There are explosions all the time," said one woman in a van with seven children. "There is no water. There is nothing."
One man said he and his family had tried to leave the city twice before but had to turn back because they had no fuel for the car and the fighting was too heavy.
"We did not know how to sleep because of the explosions. We could not even leave the house. There is no food. We just had flour and salt and bread," he said.
On the western outskirts of Sirte, a flat-bed truck drove out carrying about 30 people, including children clutching dolls and blankets. It was raining, and they were wet and shivering.
They said they originally came from Morocco and Sudan, and had been trapped in Sirte because Gadhafi militias would not let them leave. One of them, Abdul Menem Ahmed, said: "The Gadhafi militias say everything is fine, then about 10 minutes later the shelling starts. There is no food, no water, no medicine," he said.
The fighting yesterday focused on Omar al-Mokhtar street, a tree-lined thoroughfare in a well-heeled neighborhood.
Typically for an amateur fighting force, the NTC effort was brave but chaotic. One bearded man in a wheelchair was pushed into the main street by a comrade. He fired his Kalashnikov rifle at Gadhafi loyalists and was pushed back to safety.
Gadhafi himself is not in Sirte, according to NTC officials coordinating the hunt for him, but is believed to be far to the south in the Sahara desert.
With Libya's new rulers focused on the bruising battles for Sirte and Bani Walid, another pro-Gadhafi town, a political vacuum has emerged. There is no formal government and the process of holding elections is on hold.
Armed anti-Gadhafi factions from different regions are vying for power, complicating the NTC's task of asserting national control in the oil-exporting nation of six million people.
Sirte, once a fishing village, has symbolic significance because Gadhafi used it as a prop in the personality cult he built during his 42 year rule. He built opulent villas, hotels and conference halls to host Arab and African leaders.
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