الرئيسية
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Fighters loyal to Libya's overthrown leader
Muammar Gaddafi took control of a town south-east of the capital on
Monday, flying their green flags in defiance of the country's fragile
new government.
The fightback by Gaddafi supporters defeated in Libya's civil war,
though unlikely to spread elsewhere, added to the problems besetting a
government which in the past week has been reeling from one crisis to
another. Gaddafi himself was captured and killed in October after weeks
on the run.
Accounts from the town of Bani Walid, about 200 km (120 miles) from
Tripoli, described armed Gaddafi supporters attacking the barracks of
the pro-government militia in the town and then forcing them to fall
back.
"They control the town now. They are roaming the town," said a
fighter with the 28th May militia, loyal to Libya's ruling National
Transitional Council (NTC), which came under attack.
The fighter told Reuters the loyalists were flying "brand new green
flags" from the centre of town. The flags were symbols of Gaddafi's
42-year rule.
A resident said four people were killed and 20 wounded in the fighting, during which the sides used heavy weapons.
Bani Walid, base of the powerful Warfallah tribe, was one of the last
towns to surrender to the anti-Gaddafi rebellion last year. Many people
there oppose the new leadership.
A Libyan air force official said war planes were being mobilized to
fly to Bani Walid. A spokesman for the military council in Zawiyah, near
Tripoli, said a 1,500-strong force, drawn from militias across western
Libya, was on stand-by.
Muammar Gaddafi took control of a town south-east of the capital on
Monday, flying their green flags in defiance of the country's fragile
new government.
The fightback by Gaddafi supporters defeated in Libya's civil war,
though unlikely to spread elsewhere, added to the problems besetting a
government which in the past week has been reeling from one crisis to
another. Gaddafi himself was captured and killed in October after weeks
on the run.
Accounts from the town of Bani Walid, about 200 km (120 miles) from
Tripoli, described armed Gaddafi supporters attacking the barracks of
the pro-government militia in the town and then forcing them to fall
back.
"They control the town now. They are roaming the town," said a
fighter with the 28th May militia, loyal to Libya's ruling National
Transitional Council (NTC), which came under attack.
The fighter told Reuters the loyalists were flying "brand new green
flags" from the centre of town. The flags were symbols of Gaddafi's
42-year rule.
A resident said four people were killed and 20 wounded in the fighting, during which the sides used heavy weapons.
Bani Walid, base of the powerful Warfallah tribe, was one of the last
towns to surrender to the anti-Gaddafi rebellion last year. Many people
there oppose the new leadership.
A Libyan air force official said war planes were being mobilized to
fly to Bani Walid. A spokesman for the military council in Zawiyah, near
Tripoli, said a 1,500-strong force, drawn from militias across western
Libya, was on stand-by.