NTC Forces Take Control Of Gaddafi Stronghold

8:54am UK, Tuesday October 18, 2011

Anti-Gaddafi forces have raised the country's new flag over Bani Walid, one of the last strongholds of troops loyal to the ousted leader.

Soldiers fired their weapons into the air in triumph after taking the town, which is 90 miles south of the capital Tripoli.
"Bani Walid has been completely liberated since last night," said Mohammed Shakonah, a military commander with the National Transitional Council (NTC).
"The brigades who are on the left and the right on this road have been forced to retreat, thank God. We took our positions in Bani Walid."
The town's capture has brought Libya's new rulers a step closer to being in full control of the North African country almost two months after they entered Tripoli and ended 42 years of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's rule.
Along with Col Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte, Bani Walid was one of Libya's last areas of armed resistance to the NTC.
Bursts of gunfire, fireworks and car horns could be heard along the streets.
The town had been under siege for weeks, with hundreds of Gaddafi loyalists dug into its steep valleys and hills, resisting advancing interim government forces.
NTC officials had been negotiating with Bani Walid's tribal leaders for its surrender.
Intense fighting continues for control of Col Gaddafi's home town of Sirte, where his supporters are still clinging on to a small area.