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Calgarian Anas Ahmed Elhouderi returned to Libya to fight in the uprising. He's part of the column attacking Bani Walid.
JEREMY RELPH/FOR THE TORONTO STARNEAR BANI WALID, LIBYA—“We reached the outer walls of a military compound,” lamented Anas Ahmed Elhouderi said, standing at rebel lines some five kilometres from Bani Walid. “For some reason we've been called back.”
Like many rebel fighters, Elhouderi, a 22-year-old Calgary resident who returned to his native Libya about a month ago to join the uprising, was frustrated with the delays in forward movement as Libya's new authorities launched an assault Saturday on one of the last remaining bastions of ousted leader Moammar Gadhafi.
Fighters poured into the desert town of Bani Walid, 150 kilometres southeast of Tripoli, after a deadline set by the National Transitional Council for Gadhafi strongholds to surrender by midday Saturday expired.
Elhouderi said there were clashes Friday night as hundreds of men loyal to the fugitive leader put up resistance. There was also fighting near Gadhafi's birthplace of Sirte, one of the other few holdout cities.
There were reports of two rebels dead and four wounded, though, in the confusion of battle, the numbers varied.
Rebels have met with more resistance in Bani Walid than they had expected. Anti-Gaddafi fighters believe one or two of the ousted leader's sons may be holed up in the town. Some NTC officials have even suggested the ousted leader himself might be there.
Abdullah Kinshil, chief negotiator for the NTC, said there could be from 600 to 1,000 fighters holed up in the town, far more than the 150 they had previously estimated.
“There are 30 to 40 very well-trained (fighters), mainly from the city,” said Kinshil.
There were more clashes at dawn Saturday, with NATO planes circling overhead. Then, by midday, as negotiations for a peaceful surrender came to a halt, the NTC held an impromptu news conference out in the desert.
“They don't talk to us,” Abdullah Kinshil, chief negotiator for the NTC, told reporters. “We don't exist in their eyes — it is a fight with NATO.”
Kinshil talked about the presence of Gadhafi brigades and mercenaries in the town. “We ask our citizens to stay away from them. Avoid anyone suspicious to avoid damage to you or your property.”
It wasn't immediately clear how his warning would reach the town's residents, who've had only sporadic electricity and no cellphone coverage for days.
Later Saturday afternoon, NTC fighters who had pulled back suddenly said they had fought to within 500 metres of the town centre.
“Field commanders have told us to retreat because NATO will be bombing soon,” fighter Abdul Mulla Mohamed said, driving away in one of dozens of vehicles leaving town.
Witnesses said NATO aircraft struck at least seven times at loyalist positions around the town. Black plumes of smoke rose from surrounding areas as powerful explosions echoed across a valley in Bani Walid's northern outskirts.
NATO confirmed its aircraft were flying missions over Bani Walid, but would not comment on airstrikes.
During the pause, Elhouderi, the Canadian fighter, described how the rebel column spent two days trekking through harsh desert scrub in its advance upon the city.
He hadn't slept for two days, he said. “I'm used to doing it from studying in university.”
He graduated this summer with a bachelor of science from the University of Calgary, and plans to return to Canada for grad school.
The conversation with Elhouderi ended as snipers' bullets zipped through the desert air.
“I need to go back to where I'm needed,” said Elhouderi as he headed back to the front line.
With files from Star wire services
