Libyan rebel forces were converging on Moamer Qadhafi’s hometown of Sirte on Monday, hoping to deliver the coup de grace of their revolution but uncertain if the fallen strongman was holed up there.
The fugitive Qadhafi’s whereabouts were still not known and it was possible he was still in hiding in Tripoli after it fell to rebel forces and his 42-year-old reign collapsed.
Nato war planes struck at Sirte, on the Mediterranean coast, for a third day on Sunday, a spokesman for the multi-national alliance said in Brussels.
“We’re paying close attention to what’s happening in Sirte because we know that there are remnants of the regime that are there,” the spokesman said.
On the ground, rebel forces also closed in and said they would seize Sirte by force if negotiations for its surrender failed.
Qadhafi was born near Sirte, 450-km east of Tripoli, in 1942 and after he seized power in 1969 he built it up from a sleepy fishing village into an important city and power center of 100,000 people.
He still retains support and sympathy there, so whether or not he has chosen to retreat to the city to make a last stand, its capture will still be strategically and symbolically important to the rebels as they consolidate their victory.
One rebel commander said his forces were within 100-km of Sirte from the east and others were advancing from the west.
On the coastal highway east of Tripoli, tank transporters were carrying Soviet-designed T-55 tanks in the direction of Sirte. Rebels said the tanks were seized from an abandoned military base in Zlitan.
Skirmishes Jamal Tunally, a rebel military commander in Misrata, told Reuters: “The front line is 30-km from Sirte. We think the Sirte situation will be resolved peacefully, God willing.”
“Now we just need to find Qadhafi. I think he is still hiding underneath Bab al-Aziziyah like a rat,” he said, referring to Qadhafi’s Tripoli compound that rebels overran on Tuesday.
From the east, rebel fighters pushed 7-km past the village of Bin Jawad and secured the Nawfaliyah junction, a rebel spokesman said. “We’re going slowly,” spokesman Mohammad Zawawi told Reuters. “We want to give more time for negotiations, to give a chance for those people trying to persuade the people inside Sirte to surrender and open their city.”
Mindful of preserving their image to the world and stung by accounts that captured Qadhafi loyalists have been found dead with their hands tied behind their backs, the rebel leaders sent a text message urging followers not to abuse prisoners.
“Remember when you arrest any follower of Qadhafi, that he is like you, that he has dignity like you, that his dignity is your own dignity, and that it is enough humiliation for him that he is already a prisoner,” it said.
Many corpses have been found, some of slain Qadhafi soldiers, others the victims of killings in cold blood. Rebel military spokesman Colonel Ahmed Bani said there was concern for the fate of 40,000 prisoners who he said had been detained by Gaddafi’s forces and who were still unaccounted for. It was possible some were being held in underground bunkers in Tripoli that rebels had been unable to locate.
The fugitive Qadhafi’s whereabouts were still not known and it was possible he was still in hiding in Tripoli after it fell to rebel forces and his 42-year-old reign collapsed.
Nato war planes struck at Sirte, on the Mediterranean coast, for a third day on Sunday, a spokesman for the multi-national alliance said in Brussels.
“We’re paying close attention to what’s happening in Sirte because we know that there are remnants of the regime that are there,” the spokesman said.
On the ground, rebel forces also closed in and said they would seize Sirte by force if negotiations for its surrender failed.
Qadhafi was born near Sirte, 450-km east of Tripoli, in 1942 and after he seized power in 1969 he built it up from a sleepy fishing village into an important city and power center of 100,000 people.
He still retains support and sympathy there, so whether or not he has chosen to retreat to the city to make a last stand, its capture will still be strategically and symbolically important to the rebels as they consolidate their victory.
One rebel commander said his forces were within 100-km of Sirte from the east and others were advancing from the west.
On the coastal highway east of Tripoli, tank transporters were carrying Soviet-designed T-55 tanks in the direction of Sirte. Rebels said the tanks were seized from an abandoned military base in Zlitan.
Skirmishes Jamal Tunally, a rebel military commander in Misrata, told Reuters: “The front line is 30-km from Sirte. We think the Sirte situation will be resolved peacefully, God willing.”
“Now we just need to find Qadhafi. I think he is still hiding underneath Bab al-Aziziyah like a rat,” he said, referring to Qadhafi’s Tripoli compound that rebels overran on Tuesday.
From the east, rebel fighters pushed 7-km past the village of Bin Jawad and secured the Nawfaliyah junction, a rebel spokesman said. “We’re going slowly,” spokesman Mohammad Zawawi told Reuters. “We want to give more time for negotiations, to give a chance for those people trying to persuade the people inside Sirte to surrender and open their city.”
Mindful of preserving their image to the world and stung by accounts that captured Qadhafi loyalists have been found dead with their hands tied behind their backs, the rebel leaders sent a text message urging followers not to abuse prisoners.
“Remember when you arrest any follower of Qadhafi, that he is like you, that he has dignity like you, that his dignity is your own dignity, and that it is enough humiliation for him that he is already a prisoner,” it said.
Many corpses have been found, some of slain Qadhafi soldiers, others the victims of killings in cold blood. Rebel military spokesman Colonel Ahmed Bani said there was concern for the fate of 40,000 prisoners who he said had been detained by Gaddafi’s forces and who were still unaccounted for. It was possible some were being held in underground bunkers in Tripoli that rebels had been unable to locate.
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