Reply #8: Gaddafi bastion residents plead for an attack [View All]

[pinboy3niner]

Thu Sep 15, 2011 2:16pm GMT



By Maria Golovnina

NORTH GATE OF BANI WALID, Libya, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Worn out after weeks without proper food and water, refugees gushing out of one of Muammar Gaddafi's last strongholds implored fighters backing Libya's new rulers to hurry up and rescue their families trapped inside the beleaguered town.

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More than a quarter of Bani Walid's roughly 100,000 population has now fled, but residents said many more people were trapped by feared Gaddafi militiamen threatening to shoot anyone leaving their homes.

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"Why are you waiting?" shouted Ramadan Karim after crossing the lines and stopping at a checkpoint manned by anti-Gaddafi fighters on the northern edge of the city.

Shaking his fist and leaning out of his car's window, he yelled at the soldiers: "Go in now! Rescue them! Our people are trapped inside! It's a ghost city! It's enough! It's enough!"

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Field commanders around Bani Walid said they were under strict orders to proceed slowly and avoid the loss of civilian life as much as possible.

"We are not using the same tactics as Gaddafi. We want to help our people, all Libyans," said Hafid Bellal, an anti-Gaddafi fighter.

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http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL5E7KF2Q220110915?sp=true