Benghazi (Libya), Sep 15 : The forces of Libya's new leadership said today they had entered fugitive Muammar Gaddafi's hometown, as David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy visited a “free Libya” and were hailed as heroes.
“Misrata's thwar (fighters) arrived at the Al-Gharbiyat Bridge inside Sirte,” the Misrata Military Council said in a statement, even as the British premier and French president were being mobbed in the eastern city of Benghazi. On the first visit by foreign leaders to Libya since Gaddafi was toppled, Cameron and Sarkozy flew to Tripoli in the morning and then later to Benghazi in the east, bastion of the rebellion against the long-time despot.
Their historic visit coincided with an assault on Sirte by battle-hardened fighters, who had set off in a 900-vehicle convoy from Misrata early today before splitting at the crossroads town of Abu Qurin to form a pincer movement.
“Our revolutionaries have entered Sirte today on three main axes,” the military council statement said. A spokesman for the convoy of forces confirmed that the pro-NTC troops had entered Sirte.“I confirm our forces are in Sirte, it is a big force,” said Fathi Bashaga.
“There is still resistance but our fighters will be able to overcome it,” the spokesman told an AFP correspondent in Wadi Bey, a desert town where part of the Sirte-bound convoy was held up in a battle with Gaddafi loyalists. “They are attacking us with 40- and 43-mm mortars and all kinds of weapons.” (AFP)
