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Libya: CNT forces retreat in Sirte under fire from pro-Gaddafibit.ly/pw0oYx
Libya: CNT forces retreat in Sirte under fire from pro-Gaddafi
Sirte (Libya) (AFP) - 13.10.2011 11:25
The forces of the new Libyan regime, which claimed to have identified the remnants of Muammar Gaddafi in Sirte two quarters, fell two kilometers under their heavy fire Thursday, according to an AFP reporter on the spot.
Fighters CNT October 13, 2011 in Sirte
Fighters CNT October 13, 2011 in SirteThe forces of the new Libyan regime, which claimed to have identified the remnants of Muammar Gaddafi in two districts of Sirte , fell two kilometers under their heavy fire Thursday, according to an AFP reporter on the spot.
The National Transitional Council (CNT), the former rebel who overthrew the Gaddafi regime, waiting for the fall of Sirte, 360 km east of Tripoli, to proclaim the "total liberation" of the country and resume discussions to form a government responsible for managing the transition.
"We had to retreat to the police headquarters (taken Tuesday, near the central square of the city) and we will be using heavy artillery to hit Qaddafi's forces," said Hamid Neji, a veteran pro- CNT on the new front line.
Before this setback, the commanders pro-CNT were announced Thursday morning that their opponents were identified in two areas west of the city, "Quarter Dollar", in the hills in the west, and the "District No. 2 "in the Mediterranean Sea in the northwest.
"We believe that we will take three days to catch them," explained Yahya al-Moghasabi, one of the commanders of the CNT, saying its fighters were trying to avoid using heavy artillery against these two districts to avoid touching the civilians still trapped in it.
Wednesday, the combatants pro-CNT have announced they controlled neighborhoods "Dollar" and "2", and that the fighting was concentrated around a school in the "District No. 1", just west the "2".
After a month of intense shelling and street fighting that have less than a week in nearly a hundred dead and hundreds injured only for rows pro-CNT, the city of Sirte was in ruins.
Furthermore Sirte, the forces of CNT still besieged the oasis of Bani Walid, another bastion of pro-Gaddafi 170 km southwest of Tripoli, they hoped to take in the wake of the fall of Sirte.
But Amr Youssef, a veteran of one of the leading brigades engaged on this front, announced that it had dropped to thirty kilometers Wednesday because of a dispute with other brigades accused of not following any set.
The head of the local committee of the CNT of Bani Walid, Al-Haj Al Emburk Fatnani, has denied any internal conflict and explained that the fighting was suspended to prepare the next offensive. He said 1,500 fighters remain pro-Gaddafi in Bani Walid, of which 5% of the population have not yet fled.
Wednesday night, shots of joy and live horn resounded in Tripoli and Misrata to greet the announcement of the arrest in Sirte Mouatassim Gaddafi, a son of former leader on the run, but this information was denied Thursday.
After confirming the arrest Wednesday night, Abdelkarim Bizama, advisor to the head of the CNT, Moustapha Abdeljalil, returned Thursday to his words.
"There is a confusion about a capture Mouatassim. We are investigating this issue with several people who have been detained or imprisoned. And once we have confirmation, there will be an official announcement of the arrest of Mouatassim" , he said.
In Sirte, Major Wissam ben Ahmed, one of the leaders of the CNT operations on the Eastern Front, assured that Mouatassim Gaddafi had not been arrested.
"But some prisoners we captured say (Muammar) Gaddafi is in Sirte," he added. The former leader is on the run since the fall of his headquarters in Tripoli on August 23, after 42 years in power.
Ads false or unsubstantiated on the arrest, escape or death of close to Gaddafi have increased in recent months in Libya.
Thursday morning, a veteran pro-CNT told they had arrested the previous day with four comrades mufti from Libya, Khaled Tantouche, highest religious authority under Gaddafi when he had changed his appearance and trying to flee Sirte.
In a report released Thursday, the organization Amnesty International (AI) has urged the new Libyan authorities to bring a speedy end to arbitrary detention and mistreatment of prisoners, arguing that this reminiscence of the fallen regime tarnished their image.
Thousands of people were arrested in Libya by militias or local committees related to the CNT, mostly without any supervision by the judicial authorities, whose activities have been suspended since February in the East and the West since August, according to AI.
Number of prisoners were beaten, and "in some cases, there is evidence of torture to extract confessions or to punish" those suspected of links with the former regime, especially blacks, according to AI.
© 2011 AFP
