Diehard loyalists of Muammar Gaddafi unleashed barrages of
rockets and mortars to beat back an assault by interim government forces on one
of their last bastions in Libya's desert and also held off an advance into his
home town.
Forced to retreat from Bani
Walid by a heavily armed, well dug-in force estimated at several hundred,
columns of fighters in pick-up trucks raced back out of the interior desert
town on Friday after a day that began with talk of ending the siege and
capturing senior figures from the old ruling elite.
At Sirte on Libya's central
Mediterranean coast, forces of the National Transitional Council (NTC) seized
the airport on the outskirts of Gaddafi's home town and moved toward pockets of
resistance scattered across built-up areas.
But by nightfall, Gaddafi
loyalists were still holding out strongly in Sirte and there was no sign of a
rapid end to a siege which has dragged on for weeks.
"Gaddafi's troops are
between the houses, there are a lot of snipers on the roofs," NTC fighter
Mabrook Salem said.
"We attack them with
rockets, it makes a lot of damage but it is the best way to control them,"
he said.
Explosions, staccato gunfire
and the whoosh of rockets echoed from the center of Sirte and black smoke
curled into the sky above. NATO planes roared overhead.
SETBACK
Nearly four weeks after the
rebel coalition overran Gaddafi's capital Tripoli, the reverse at Bani Walid
was a blow to the new leadership, which has said a timetable for drawing up a
democratic constitution and holding elections will not start until all of
Libya's vast territory is "liberated."
"We have received orders
to retreat. We have been hit by many rockets. We will come back later,"
Assad al-Hamuri, one of the fighters pulling out of Bani Walid, said amid a
frantic withdrawal, marked by shouting, anger and disappointment.
"We need to reorganize
troops and stock up on ammunition," said another fighter, Saraj
Abdelrazaq, as fighting followed a rhythm of ebb and flow familiar since the
uprising against 42 years of maverick personal rule by Gaddafi began in
February.
"We are waiting for
orders to go back in again."
Gaddafi's spokesman, Moussa
Ibrahim, in hiding like his leader, was quick to speak after the fighting on
Friday, bragging to Syria-based
Arrai TV about the NTC retreat and again warning that pro-Gaddafi forces were
gathering arms and equipment in preparation for a "long war."
"The battle is far from
over," Moussa Ibrahim said. "We assure everybody that the Sirte and
Bani Walid fronts are strong, despite the heavy, unbelievable and merciless
NATO bombardment on hospitals, families and schools."
Despite the frustrations of
trying to capture remaining territory, as well as Gaddafi himself and several
of his sons, the North African state's new leaders are getting on with the
business of government, seeking to impose order on various irregular armed
forces and revive the oil-based economy.
Those efforts received a lift
on Friday when the U.N. Security Council eased sanctions, including those on
Libya's national oil company and central bank, to enable key institutions to
resume operations.
The 15-nation council voted unanimously
for a resolution that also establishes a U.N. mission in Libya.
The latest foreign visitor was
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who hailed the fate of Gaddafi as an
example to Turkey's neighbor Syria whose autocratic president has resorted to
tanks and troops to try to crush popular unrest.
Erdogan also called on the
people of Sirte to give up the fight and make peace.
HEAVY FIRE
At Bani Walid, a Reuters
correspondent watched anti-Gaddafi fighters move forward under mortar, rocket
and sniper fire, edging from house to house and sheltering behind walls from
shrapnel and bullets. The central market and a faux-ancient castle built for
Gaddafi on a hilltop were heavily defended.
Many of the town's 100,000
residents fled in recent days.
It was also unclear how many
civilians remain in Sirte, a sprawling city of similar size that Gaddafi
created out of his native village. NTC fighters, who brought up scores of
machinegun-mounted pickup trucks and a handful of tanks, spoke of scattered
clusters of heavily armed opponents dug in there.
Contact has not been possible
with Gaddafi loyalists inside the two towns, as well as at Sabha, deep in
Libya's southern desert where several senior Gaddafi aides have been lately.
Details of developments around
Sabha were scant, but a British military spokesman said that British jets had
fired about two dozen Brimstone missiles to destroy a group of Libyan armored
vehicles near the desert town on Thursday.
Erdogan, visiting a day after
the French and British leaders credited by the NTC with rallying support for
them abroad, displayed Turkey's Muslim credentials by joining NTC chairman
Mustafa Abdel Jalil for Friday prayers at Tripoli's newly renamed Martyrs'
Square, once a showcase for Gaddafi.
While some in Tripoli recalled
Ankara's initial hesitation to join its NATO allies against Gaddafi, many see
in Muslim, democratic Turkey -- the colonial power in Libya until a
century ago -- a model for their country to follow.
Erdogan addressed people in
beleaguered Sirte, where supplies have been cut off: "From here I call out
to Sirte," he said. "Come, right now ... embrace your brothers in
Tripoli. Spilling blood does not suit us. Let us come together."
GADDAFI CORRIDOR
Gaddafi, 69, remains at large
and commands loyalty from at least hundreds of armed men, concentrated in areas
from Sirte through Bani Walid and Sabha, creating a corridor in the vast empty
spaces of the desert through which members of Gaddafi's family and senior aides
have reached Algeria and Niger.
Niger's justice minister said
on Friday it would not send one of Gaddafi's sons, Saadi, back to Libya.
"You have to understand that Niger, concerning its international
obligations, cannot hand over someone to a place or country where the person
has no chance of getting a fair trial and risks the death penalty," Marou
Amadou told a news conference.
"If that person was,
however, wanted by an independent tribunal or a state that has universal
competence to try them, then Niger will do its duty," he said.
The International Criminal
Court has issued an arrest warrant for Muammar Gaddafi and his son Saif
al-Islam for alleged war crimes, but not for Saadi, who is known abroad chiefly
for his obsession with soccer.
(Additional reporting by
William MacLean and Joseph Logan in Tripoli, Sherine El Madany in Ras Lanuf, Emma Farge in Benghazi, Philippa
Fletcher and Giles Elgood in London, Barry Malone andSylvia
Westall in Tunis, Bate Felix in Niamey; Writing by Alistair
Macdonald; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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Source : Reuters
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