Sirte, Sept 24 : Desperate residents fled Muammar Gaddafi's hometown Sirte on Friday as fighters of Libya's interim government held off a final assault on one his two remaining bastions to allow civilians to escape.
A commander of National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters near Sirte said pro-Gaddafi forces were targeting residents even as they fled, with a fighter killed and a packed family car destroyed when their convoy was hit.
NATO said it was nearing the “final phase” of its air war in Libya, a day after warplanes struck just one target in an intense bombing campaign that has lasted six months.
And a commander of the new regime said a captured general loyal to Kadhafi had said the fugitive Libyan leader was secretly moving around in the southern desert.
One month to the day since Kadhafi's compound fell to rebels in Tripoli, the campaign to take Sirte and the ex-Libyan leader's other principal remaining bastion of Bani Walid was on hold for another day.
Asked why NTC fighters were delaying a final assault on Sirte, commander Osama Muttawa Swehly told AFP: “We're trying to get the families out.
“We are averaging between 400 to 500 cars a day. We are basically trying to starve (the Kadhafi forces) out.” He said one escape convoy had come under fire from anti-aircraft guns, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms. “One fighter was killed and one family car was destroyed,” he said, with an unknown number of occupants also presumably killed.
“We are giving the families every chance to get out. Once that stream turns into a trickle then stops, then it will be time to act,” he added.
On the frontline east of Sirte, fighters acknowledged that the push on the city had been difficult. “It is taking a long time to reach Sirte because of severe resistance from Kadhafi's forces. We don't know how long it will take even now,” said Rabiya Salam, a 29-year-old former bus driver.
When rebel fighters stormed and captured Kadhafi's Bab al-Aziziya headquarters on August 23, they found no trace of the strongman, who has since made several broadcasts claiming he is still in Libya.
While the country's new authorities do not know where he is, they are focused on taking the coastal city of Sirte and the desert redoubt of Bani Walid, two places where some think he might be. AFP
