Reply #85: Libya holdout towns in focus, Gaddafi son flees [View All]

[pinboy3niner]

(WRAPUP 1)

Mon Sep 12, 2011 2:36am GMT

By Maria Golovnina and William Maclean


NORTH OF BANI WALID/TRIPOLI, Libya, Sept 12 (Reuters) - - Libya's new rulers said they were holding back an assault on one of the last bastions loyal to Muammar Gaddafi but were edging towards the ousted ruler's birthplace of Sirte.


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They said on Sunday they were meeting stiff resistance in Bani Walid, but were edging towards Sirte, which sits on the main east-west coastal highway, effectively cutting Libya in two.


Advancing NTC troops said the front line was about 90 km east of Sirte. Fighters were firing tanks and howitzers amid the sound of heavy machinegun fire and the roar of NATO warplanes overhead.

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NTC spokesman Ahmed Bani told reporters the plan for Bani Walid for now was to wait.


"When our forces entered Bani Walid they found the brigades of Gaddafi using citizens as shields," he told reporters. He said Gaddafi fighters had put missile launchers on the roofs of houses with civilian families inside, making it impossible for NTC forces or their allied NATO war planes to strike.

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http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL5E7KC00920110912?sp=true