One of the two last strongholds of Gaddafi loyalists, the town of Bani Walid, has finally been contained, Libya's interim government has claimed, leaving only parts of the ousted tyrant's birthplace out of rebel reach.
The advance by National Transitional Council (NTC) forces inside Bani Walid, about 90 miles (150km) south-east of Tripoli, came after a six-week standoff that included frequent clashes with former members of Gaddafi's security forces backed by a fiercely loyal local population.
A breakthrough in the siege of the town came over the weekend when senior members of the resident Warfilla tribe, which accounts for roughly 15% of Libya's total population, said they would recognise the NTC as long as its forces did not invade.
Nestled in a rocky valley, the town had proved impregnable since the fall of Tripoli, with senior members of the Gaddafi clan known to have sought refuge there before fleeing south to Algeria and Niger.
Attempts to take the town previously had led to heavy losses and frequent back-pedalling by anti-Gaddafi fighters who were outgunned by the 2,000 dug-in loyalists that are thought to have remained.
They now claim to have raised their flags over key institutions and to have silenced a radio station that had continued to broadcast Gaddafi propaganda claiming the dictator was still ruling from his Tripoli compound.
Gaddafi himself is thought to have spent several days in Bani Walid in late August before moving into southern Libya. Libya's nascent leadership claims to have a rough idea of where Gaddafi and his entourage are hiding, but is not known to have launched large-scale operations to find him.
He is widely believed to have separated from two of his sons, Saif al-Islam and Mutassim, who were hiding at military bases in Bani Walid at least until early September.
They were joined by other regime loyalists, including the spokesman Moussa Ibrahim, who acknowledged his location during calls to news organisations. A third Gaddafi scion, Saadi, left the city for Niger in the second week of September.
Despite an intensive month-long military operation, Sirte to the north is still not in full NTC control, with a diehard group of about 15,000 residents and fighters holding out in several pockets of the city.
The seaside city is home to Gaddafi's ancestral clan, whose members have rejected overtures from the new government to turn on their patron and mounted staunch resistance to rebel inroads.
Gaddafi last week urged his supporters to take to the streets after Friday prayers, a request that a small number – perhaps several hundred – responded to in central Tripoli, where a two-hour gun battle in the Abu Salim district followed an attempt to raise the green flag of the fallen regime.
The fighting was the first sign of the fightback that Gaddafi has regularly urged through audio messages sent to supporters, including a Syrian television network.
Meanwhile, the foreign secretary, William Hague, has re-opened the pillaged British embassy in Tripoli and pledged more aid to the NTC, including a shipment of cash that had been frozen in the United Kingdom during the sanctions imposed on Gaddafi's government.
As Hague was speaking, bulldozers knocked down some walls around the Bab al-Azizia compound, which had been the heart of Gaddafi's power for more than four decades.
The compound had been a symbol of tyranny for many Tripoli residents. However, the gates were knocked down during the fighting for the capital and touring it in family sedans has now become the city's best day out.
by Martin Chulov taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/17/libyan-rebels-capture-bani-walid
The advance by National Transitional Council (NTC) forces inside Bani Walid, about 90 miles (150km) south-east of Tripoli, came after a six-week standoff that included frequent clashes with former members of Gaddafi's security forces backed by a fiercely loyal local population.
A breakthrough in the siege of the town came over the weekend when senior members of the resident Warfilla tribe, which accounts for roughly 15% of Libya's total population, said they would recognise the NTC as long as its forces did not invade.
Nestled in a rocky valley, the town had proved impregnable since the fall of Tripoli, with senior members of the Gaddafi clan known to have sought refuge there before fleeing south to Algeria and Niger.
Attempts to take the town previously had led to heavy losses and frequent back-pedalling by anti-Gaddafi fighters who were outgunned by the 2,000 dug-in loyalists that are thought to have remained.
They now claim to have raised their flags over key institutions and to have silenced a radio station that had continued to broadcast Gaddafi propaganda claiming the dictator was still ruling from his Tripoli compound.
Gaddafi himself is thought to have spent several days in Bani Walid in late August before moving into southern Libya. Libya's nascent leadership claims to have a rough idea of where Gaddafi and his entourage are hiding, but is not known to have launched large-scale operations to find him.
He is widely believed to have separated from two of his sons, Saif al-Islam and Mutassim, who were hiding at military bases in Bani Walid at least until early September.
They were joined by other regime loyalists, including the spokesman Moussa Ibrahim, who acknowledged his location during calls to news organisations. A third Gaddafi scion, Saadi, left the city for Niger in the second week of September.
Despite an intensive month-long military operation, Sirte to the north is still not in full NTC control, with a diehard group of about 15,000 residents and fighters holding out in several pockets of the city.
The seaside city is home to Gaddafi's ancestral clan, whose members have rejected overtures from the new government to turn on their patron and mounted staunch resistance to rebel inroads.
Gaddafi last week urged his supporters to take to the streets after Friday prayers, a request that a small number – perhaps several hundred – responded to in central Tripoli, where a two-hour gun battle in the Abu Salim district followed an attempt to raise the green flag of the fallen regime.
The fighting was the first sign of the fightback that Gaddafi has regularly urged through audio messages sent to supporters, including a Syrian television network.
Meanwhile, the foreign secretary, William Hague, has re-opened the pillaged British embassy in Tripoli and pledged more aid to the NTC, including a shipment of cash that had been frozen in the United Kingdom during the sanctions imposed on Gaddafi's government.
As Hague was speaking, bulldozers knocked down some walls around the Bab al-Azizia compound, which had been the heart of Gaddafi's power for more than four decades.
The compound had been a symbol of tyranny for many Tripoli residents. However, the gates were knocked down during the fighting for the capital and touring it in family sedans has now become the city's best day out.
by Martin Chulov taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/17/libyan-rebels-capture-bani-walid
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