Reply #16: Libya's NTC eyes symbolic coup in Sirte [View All]

2011-10-03 12:57

Qasr Abu Hadi -Fighting raged for Muammar Gaddafi’s birthplace on Monday as Libya's new leaders eyed a symbolic victory in their battle to eradicate the last vestiges of his 42-year rule.

Commanders of the advancing National Transitional Council troops said they now controlled most of Qasr Abu Hadi, the small town where Gaddafi was born in a nomad tent in 1942 when it was still a tiny desert hamlet.

It was the latest in a string of loyalist communities to be mopped up by NTC troops in recent days as they close in on the toppled despot's diehard fighters in the centre of coastal city of Sirte, 20km to the north.

Medics said they had been warned an all-out assault was imminent even as an international Red Cross team headed into the city centre to deliver desperately needed medical supplies.

"Seventy-five percent of Qadr Abu Hadi is under our control," NTC field commander Mufbah Raslan told AFP.

http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Libyas-NTC-eyes-symbolic-coup-in-Sirte-20111003