Heavy fighting erupted outside the two main bastions of Muammar Gaddafi’s supporters left in Libya on Friday as fighters loyal to the fugitive leader unleashed barrages of rockets on provisional government forces closing in on the towns.
Regular volleys of Grad rockets were fired on National Transitional Council positions north of Bani Walid and east of Gaddafi’s hometown, Sirte, on Friday, Reuters witnesses said. Ambulances streamed back and forth from the front line outside Bani Walid, carrying the injured. NTC fighters grabbed dozens of crates of rocket-propelled grenades and mortars and raced to the front.
NTC officials at a checkpoint 30 km (20 miles) outside the desert town said that they had captured Gaddafi fighters on the front and Reuters witnesses saw several men with their hands tied behind their backs being driven away. Reuters witnesses saw two dead bodies being driven back from the front line in the back of a pick-up truck. NTC commanders said they were pro-Gaddafi fighters.
Smoke rose from the front line — now just 5 km outside the town, which is 150 km (90 miles) inland from the capital Tripoli — as the fighting continued and NATO planes roared overheard, monitoring the battles.
In Teassain, 90 km east of Sirte, Reuters witnesses saw heavy rocket exchanges between NTC forces and the pro-Gaddafi still controlling the town. NTC forces were seen moving artillery in the direction of the Gaddafi stronghold.
CIVILIANS TRAPPED: Though Friday’s fighting was the heaviest for days — and NTC forces were encountering heavy resistance as they inched forward — commanders did not say these were the decisive battles to take the towns.
Bani Walid and Sirte, which is on Libya’s central Mediterranean coast, have been given until Saturday to negotiate their handover to the NTC — though a slew of previous ultimatums were extended.
But interim Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril, speaking in the capital Tripoli on Thursday for the first time since NTC forces seized it on Aug. 23, said his forces would fight if attacked. Another town, Sabha — tucked away deep into the country’s huge southern desert — has also not been taken by the NTC.
Most people in the three towns are trapped, the few who have left say, by Gaddafi loyalists refusing to let them go and by dwindling fuel supplies in areas surrounded by harsh deserts that make escaping on foot impossible. NTC field commanders said Gaddafi forces tried to push through their lines overnight, firing rockets at one of their positions 30 km north of Bani Walid, but were driven back following minor clashes.
