Reply #71: NTC claims humanitarian disaster in Gadhafi stronghold [View All]

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Gadhafi forces are leaving Bani Walid residents to starve, an NTC spokesman says

• NEW: The NTC rejects a suggestion that loyalists captured foreign mercenaries

• More than 20 of its fighters were killed Sunday in Sirte, the transitional government says

• Residents in southern Libyan towns celebrate freedom from Gadhafi

From Jill Dougherty and Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, CNN
September 20, 2011 -- Updated 1245 GMT (2045 HKT)


Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi are creating a humanitarian disaster in Bani Walid, the National Transitional Council's military spokesman charged Monday.


Col. Ahmed Bani told reporters that Gadhafi forces are robbing food stores, leaving civilian residents to starve. He also charged that Gadhafi loyalists are shooting everyone trying to join the revolution, including men, women and children. "They are carrying out mass killings," Bani said.


"This proves they are trying to destroy the town before it is liberated," he added, calling the Gadhafi forces "criminals" and "killers."

...


Asked to comment on assertions by Gadhafi spokesman Musa Ibrahim that loyalist forces in Bani Walid had captured a group of 17 mercenaries fighting for the NTC, including some British, Qatari, French and Asians, the spokesman dismissed the claim, saying, "Don't listen to him, he's from another planet."

...


"The injured revolutionaries in Sirte have all been hit with RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) fired from areas congested with civilians where Gadhafi loyalists are hiding," Adel Ghulaek, spokesman for the NTC in Misrata, said Monday. "Our men are not even firing back because they do not want to kill any innocent people. Two helicopters evacuated the injured fighters last night."

...


http://edition.cnn.com/2011/09/19/world/africa/libya-war/index.html?hpt=iaf_c1