|
Qaddafi snipers make it difficult for NTC fighters
National Transitional Council (NTC) commanders moved up tanks to fire at buildings from close range to try to dislodge the remaining Qaddafi snipers who are now surrounded on all sides in one small part of the city. We have control of the whole of the city except neighborhood Number Two where the Qaddafi forces are surrounded, said Khaled Alteir, a field commander in Sirte. This operation is on its dying breath, said another commander, Col. Mohammad Aghfeer. Die-hard loyalists to the deposed leader have not given up the fight, answering NTC attacks in Sirte with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. An NTC commander said Qaddafis besieged forces were no longer using heavier weapons. Green flags, the banner of Qaddafis 42-year rule, still fly above many of the buildings in Sirte, but the commander said, the defending forces appeared to have lost their cohesion. Weve noticed now they are fighting every man for himself, said Baloun Al Sharie, a field commander. We tried to tell them its enough and to give themselves up, but they would not. NTC officers say Qaddafi loyalists Some captured fighters have been roughed up by NTC forces and Amnesty International issued a report on Wednesday saying Libyas new rulers were in danger of repeating human rights abuses commonplace during Muammar Qaddafis rule. The NTC said it would look into the report. As the tanks pounded the apartment blocks where Qaddafis men are holed up, pick-up trucks mounted with heavy machine guns moved in behind, then infantry armed with AK-47s began their assault. One field hospital received two NTC dead and 23 wounded on Thursday. One of the dead men had been hit while taking food up to the fighters on the front line, doctors said. In the skies, NATO aircraft have been carrying out reconnaissance missions and Britain said its jets had bombed and destroyed two pick-up trucks belonging to Qaddafis forces in Sirte on Wednesday. Posted by: Steve White 2011-10-14 |
|
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=331595 |