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via @guardian Libya: battle for Sirte reaches endgame - live updates dlvr.it/qhhc0
Libya: battle for Sirte reaches endgame - live updates
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NTC fighters evacuate a wounded comrade during battles in Sirte, Libya. Photograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images
Al-Arabiya reports that 10 people have been killed in Syria today.
Activists have posted a video on YouTube (WARNING: contains distressing footage) of a boy, Ibrahim Shaybani, alternatively described as nine or 10-years-old they say was killed by security forces after Friday prayers in the Midan neighbourhood of Damascus.
"We've just seen what looks like an absolutely horrendous friendly fire incident," Peter Beaumont reports from Sirte.
It looks as though a couple of mortars dropped where a whole bunch of government fighters were bunched together near southern front where the Misrata forces are pushing forward from.I saw the casualties come back [there were] some quite serious injuries - a punctured chest, serious head injuries ... I saw around 20 injuries. People are talking of maybe half as many again.
Peter said the incident exposed the lack of coordination between fighters from Benghazi on the eastern side of Sirte, and the Misratan forces pushing forward from the south.
You also have people here who have mortars that they don't know how to fire properly. In a whole week here I've only seen one mortar team take a bearing on a target. People are so close together that the number of fratricidal incidence seems to be escalating. The risk of death comes as much from people fire behind you, from the right of you, to the left of you as it does from the Gaddafi forces in front.The communication are incredibly poor, despite the fact that the Benghazi forces appeared to have pulled back to allow the Misratan forces to fire on this southern front and minimise the risk of friendly fire, you have this secondary risk of people who don't really know how to use their weapons ... It is really really frightening. One guy said, using some profanity, 'we are just killing each other here'.
Below the line BrownMoses asked Peter to comment on reports of large numbers of prisoners held in Sirte.
Peter said:
I'm afraid the only evidence of prisoners being held here are executed captives. I'm still not entirely sure who they are ... The number I'm hearing now is 42 people in four different groups found in the west of the city. They appear to be people from Sirte who didn't want to fight with the Gaddafi fighters. That's the theory at the moment. They had been shot against a wall with their hands tied. A doctor I spoke to today, who saw the bodies, said they had been separated by race.
One of those killed has been tentatively identified as the son of a general who defected from Gaddafi, Peter added.
Here's a summary of the latest developments:
Libya
• Forces loyal to the interim government in Libya are taking tanks in to Sirte as they continue attempts to fully liberate Gaddafi's birthplace. The plan is to shell for a couple of days and then go for another large assault, says the Guardian's Peter Beaumont, although he suggests they may lose patience. Peter says his sources insist there are only between 100 and 300 Gaddaif loyalists are left fighting for Sirte.
• One of the sources for reports that Gaddafi's son Mutassim had been captured has backtracked on the announcement. Abdelkarim Bizama, an adviser to Mustafa Abdel Jalil, told AFP: "There was some confusion about the reports of Mutassim's capture. As soon as we have confirmation, there will be an official announcement of his arrest."
Syria
• The UN high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, has called for international action to avoid "full-blown civil war" in Syria. She also upped the number of people killed since protests erupted seven months ago to more than 3,000. The total figure includes at least 187 children. Hundreds more have been arrested, detained, tortured and disappeared, according to a spokesman for Pillay.
• Syrian security forces have opened fire on protesters across the country - including in Damacus, Aleppo, Hama, Homs and Dara'a - killing at least seven people, according to Syrian activists. The Local Co-ordination Committtees say opponents to Bashar al-Assad have once more come out in force to demonstrate.
Egypt
• There have been clashes at a "national unity" march in Cairo from the al-Azhar mosque to the Coptic cathedral in Abbassiabetween people supporting the military and those blaming it for Sunday's deaths at the march of Coptic Christians. From reports at the march the violence seems to have subsided and the march is continuing.
A march of "national unity" in Cairo from al-Azhar mosque to the Coptic cathedral in Abbassia has hit trouble with violence between people for the military rulers and those against it, according to reports on Twitter.
Al azhar friday preacher gives an inciting speech now telling muslims to defend their army against anyone no matter what relegionNow after the prayers preacher calls for a special prayer to muslims who died didn't mention anything about coptsProtest turned into clashes rocks and war of words bet people chanting against army and for it
Fights already erupted before the March started from Alazhar to the Cathedral. #Maspero #Jan25Allegation that protesters are paid. Someone shouting we want emergency law, we want #SCAF to rule, numbers pro-scaf are very few though
Security forces have opened fire on protester in Damacus, Aleppo, Hama, Homs and Dara'a, according to Syrian activists, who report that opponents to Bashar al-Assad have once more come out in force.
The Local Co-ordination Committees, which report on protests, say one person has been killed in Daeel in Dara'a and tanks have been deployed in Jasim, also in Dara'a. Three people have been injured in the Damascus neighbourhood of Barzeh so far after security forces fired live rounds to disperse a demonstration after Friday prayers, according to the LCC, which also reports "heavy shooting" the Qusoor neighborhood of Hama.
Video from the Qatana suburb of the Syrian capital, Damascus, purports to show trucks carrying scores of troops as the call to prayer sounds out.
