Heavy fire forces anti-Gaddafi fighters to retreat
The fighters, who had been hoping to mop up the last pockets of resistance in two northwestern residential districts, withdrew to the police headquarters they had captured on Tuesday.
Commanders of the forces loyal to the National Transitional Council (NTC) said the Gaddafi diehards were cornered within about two square kilometres of the Mediterranean city.
As heavy artillery fire was heard in the city’s west and thick black smoke rose over the waterfront to the north, ambulances with sirens ablaze ferried the many wounded out for treatment.
Four pro-NTC fighters were killed, including two by friendly fire, and another 40 were hurt, mostly by sniper fire, said Rawad Friwan, a surgeon at a field hospital on Sirte’s outskirts.
“Earlier in the day, we had been engaged in street fighting, but we have stopped. The pro-Gaddafi fighters have been firing rockets, mortars and bombs at us,” said Fayisal Ahmed Bringo, a new regime fighter.
“There are still 500 pro-Gaddafi fighters in Sirte and our forces today arrested 15,” he said.
The intensity of fighting eased later to machine gun and occasional rocket fire, mainly from the forces of the new regime, as they waited for further orders.
A top adviser of NTC chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil meanwhile backtracked on his announcement that they had captured Gaddafi’s son and national security chief Mutassim in Sirte, after it was denied by military commanders in the city.
“There was some confusion about the reports of Mutassim’s capture,” Abdelkarim Bizama said. “As soon as we have confirmation, there will be an official announcement of his arrest.”
Late yesterday, Bizama had announced: “Mutassim Gaddafi was captured at Sirte and was transferred to Benghazi,” Libya’s second-largest city where significant parts of the new leadership are based.
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