Fighters of Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) were preparing to assault Muammar Gaddafi’s hometown of sirte, as the town’s residents fled to other towns.
Fighters of Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) were preparing to assault Muammar Gaddafi’s hometown of sirte, as the town’s residents fled to other towns.
One month after Gaddafi’s bastion of Bab al-Azizia (in Tripoli) was captured in August 23, fighters held on the assault of the strongman’s bastions of Sirte and Bani Walid. However the NTC feared the civilian deaths in these towns.
Commanders and fighters said they had probed the city's eastern outskirts without resistance.
"Our fighters are in control of the eastern gate of Sirte," commander Ahmed Zlitni from the operations center told AFP news agency.
"They are two kilometers ahead of the gate and holding positions there. Technically we can say that we entered Sirte from the east," Zlitni said, adding that the fighters "did not face any resistance" when they crossed.
"Three to four brigades have entered through the eastern gate," confirmed Commander Mohammed al-Marimi.
Asked why NTC fighters were delaying a final assault on Sirte, commander Osama Muttawa Swehly said: "We're trying to get the families out.
"We are averaging between 400 and 500 cars a day. We are basically trying to starve (Gaddafi forces) out."
CIVILIANS COME UNDER ATTACK
He said one escape convoy had come under fire from anti-aircraft guns, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms.
"One fighter was killed and one family car was destroyed," he said, with an unknown number of occupants also presumably killed.
"We are giving the families every chance to get out. Once that stream turns into a trickle then stops, then it will be time to act," he added.
AISHA GADDAFI: FATHER WELL, FIGHTING
Meanwhile, Gaddafi’s daughter Aisha said that her father was “well” and “fighting on the ground”, as she attacked the country's new rulers and calling them "traitors".
"Remain reassured; your great leader is doing well. He carries weapons and is fighting on the fronts," she said in a telephone message aired by Syria-based Al-Rai television.
"You can be proud of your leader," she said addressing the "resistant people" of Libya.
Aisha Gaddafi, who fled to Algeria with her mother and two brothers late last month, called on the people to "rise" against the new rulers, saying NTC members were "traitors who have broken their oath of allegiance" toward Gaddafi.
The strongman’s wife Safiya, two sons Mohammed and Hannibal and daughter Aisha escaped to Algeria on August 29. Algeria said it had allowed them in on "humanitarian grounds".
GADDAFI WHEREABOUTS
However, the whereabouts of Gaddafi himself were still unknown. NTC were focusing on taking Sirte and Bani Walid, two places where some think Gaddafi might be there.
But reports also emerged that he would be in the south.
"General Belgasem al-Abaaj, who we captured on Monday, said that Gaddafi had contacted him by phone about 10 days ago, and that he was moving secretly between (the oases towns of) Sabha and Ghat," an NTC commander, Mohammed Barka Wardugu, told AFP news agency.
Abaaj had said that Gaddafi "is helped by Nigerian and Chadian mercenaries who know the desert routes," added Wardugu, spokesman for the Desert Shield Brigade.
On the other hand, NTC officials announced fresh talks on Saturday on forming an interim government after a previous round failed last weekend.
One official insisted the meeting would be "decisive" and that there would be "agreement on the new government lineup."
