Gaddafi's son captured in Libya's Sirte: NTC

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1 of 18. Libyans celebrate after hearing the capture of Muammar Gaddafi's son Mo'tassim, at Martyrs square in Tripoli October 12, 2011. Three officials representing Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) told Reuters on Wednesday that Mo'tassim was captured in Sirte on Tuesday, trying to escape the town in a car with a family.

Credit: Reuters/Suhaib Salem

By Ahmed Seif and Rania El Gamal

TRIPOLI/SIRTE, Libya | Thu Oct 13, 2011 6:14am EDT

TRIPOLI/SIRTE, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan government fighters have captured Muammar Gaddafi's son Mo'tassim as he tried to escape the battle-torn city of Sirte, National Transitional Council (NTC) officials told Reuters.

The capture of the deposed leader's national security adviser, and the first member of the Gaddafi family, is a big boost to Libya's new rulers whose forces are still battling pro-Gaddafi fighters in his home town of Sirte.

"He was arrested today in Sirte," Colonel Abdullah Naker told Reuters Wednesday. Other NTC sources said Mo'tassim was taken to Benghazi where he was questioned at the Boatneh military camp where he is being held. He was uninjured but exhausted.

Hundreds of NTC fighters took to the streets in several Libyan cities and fired shots in the air in celebration.

Gaddafi loyalists have fought tenaciously for weeks in Sirte, one of just two major towns where they still have footholds, two months after rebels seized the capital Tripoli.

NTC foot soldiers cleaned their weapons and began to move up to the front line in Sirte Thursday while tanks and rocket launchers bombarded the remaining small pockets of resistance.

It was not yet clear whether resistance would crumble from the Gaddafi loyalist side now that Mo'tassim had been captured, or whether his remaining troops would fight on, or whether they were even aware of the news.

Mo'tassim belonged to a conservative camp -- rooted in the military and security forces -- which resisted his brother Saif al-Islam's reform attempts, analysts said.

A senior NTC military official told Reuters that Mo'tassim had cut his usually long hair shorter to disguise himself.

Gaddafi and his most politically prominent son, Saif Al-Islam, have been on the run since the fall of Tripoli in August. Gaddafi himself is believed to be hiding somewhere far to the south in the vast Libyan desert.

His daughter Aisha, her brothers Hannibal and Mohammed, their mother Safi and several other family members fled to Algeria in August and have lived their since. Another son, Saadi, is in Niger.

NTC field commanders say more than 80 percent of Sirte is now under their control. Gaddafi's men are still in parts of the "Number Two" and the 'Dollar' neighborhoods," they say.

Green flags, the symbol of Gaddafi's 42 years in power, still fly above many of the buildings in the neighborhoods.

In the "Number Two" neighborhood, government forces found 25 corpses wrapped in plastic sheets. They accused pro-Gaddafi militias of carrying out execution-style killings.

Five corpses shown to a Reuters team wore civilian clothes and had their hands tied behind their backs and gunshot wounds to the head.

"There are about 25 innocent people with their hands tied. There is no humanity. It's sad," said NTC commander Salem al Fitouri standing besides the corpses, which he said had been there for at least five days.

Medical workers at a hospital outside Sirte said four NTC fighters were killed and 43 others were wounded Wednesday.

The NTC has said it will start the process of rebuilding Libya as a democracy only after the capture of Sirte, a former fishing village transformed by Gaddafi into a showpiece replete with lavish conference halls and hotels.

(Additional reporting by Tim Gaynor in Sirte, and Barry Malone and Joseph Logan in Tripoli; Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by Giles Elgood)

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Sirte residents turn anger on Libya's new rulers

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By Rania El Gamal

SIRTE, Libya | Wed Oct 5, 2011 5:46am EDT

SIRTE, Libya (Reuters) - Many residents of Sirte, Muammar Gaddafi's birth-place, blame Libya's new rulers and their Western allies for the death and destruction unleashed on their city by weeks of fighting.

Most are reluctant to talk openly about their allegiances, for fear they will be branded as members of a pro-Gaddafi fifth column. Yet their anger and bitterness is clear.

"This country has been built around one man. If he is over, Libya will be over," said a resident who gave his name as al-Fatouri, standing outside his home on the outskirts of Sirte.

"Gaddafi is like a picture frame. When part of the frame is hit, the whole picture will be destroyed, Libya will be destroyed," he said.

Sirte is the sternest test yet of the ability of the interim government, the National Transitional Council (NTC), to win over Gaddafi's tribe and prevent it from mounting an Iraq-style insurgency that would destabilize Libya and the region.

While most cities captured by NTC forces have rejoiced, or at least given that impression, Sirte is different because it is home to members of Gaddafi's tribe who genuinely back him.

"Let them look for Muammar, but do not kill 50,000 people to change the regime," said Fatouri. "It is not worth it that thousands die in Sirte for Muammar. This is what saddens us."

Fatouri said he, like thousands of other people from this city on the Mediterranean coast, had fled his home days ago because of the fighting. He decided later to come back.

"We refuse to leave, we don't want to suffer... We would rather die here than leave our houses and suffer," he said.

As he spoke, the sound of shelling and heavy machine guns reverberated around him and a crowd of locals gathered.

"They (NTC forces) used to start their day with bombing us, and finish it with bombing us... The kids used to hear the shelling like music," said another resident standing nearby.

FEAR OF SLAUGHTER

NTC forces say they are mounting a final push to seize Sirte after pausing to let civilians leave. They say the only people left are mercenaries, die-hard fighters and, they believe, one of Gaddafi's sons, Mu'atassem, a military commander.

NTC fighters, whose offensive is backed by NATO air strikes, say they are treating fleeing residents well, giving them food and water, and detaining only suspected Gaddafi fighters.

Several residents said that was not the true picture.

"There are no Gaddafi brigades, they are volunteers inside," said a 23-year-old who gave his name only as Bassem. He fled Sirte two days ago with his uncle, but left his parents behind.

"They didn't want to leave," he said. "Some people are scared of being slaughtered by the rebels, and some people do not want to leave their house."

Many residents fear NTC forces will exact revenge on Sirte because of its links with Gaddafi, who developed it from a fishing village to a city of 100,000 that hosted state events.

Sirte, one of Gaddafi's last bastions in Libya since the fall of Tripoli on August 23, sits on the main coastal highway between the capital and the eastern city of Benghazi.

Some of the fighters trying to capture Sirte are from Misrata, a city where thousands of people were killed by Gaddafi's forces and where hatred of his rule runs high.

"The rebels from Misrata say they will destroy Sirte because Misrata was destroyed," said Ali, another fleeing resident.

"NATO has brought destruction, and the revolution has brought destruction," he said.

As he spoke, bystanders began shouting at him that such talk would just spread "chaos and havoc." Ali retorted that they were not telling the truth and walked away in dismay.

Another angry resident shared Ali's view.

"What did America and NATO bring to us? Did they bring apricots?" he demanded. "No, they brought us the shelling and the strikes. They terrorized our kids."

(Editing by Christian Lowe and Alistair Lyon)

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Civilians surge out of Sirte, say food dwindling

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1 of 12. Displaced families flee Sirte for Khamseen (50) Gate, 50 km (31 miles) east of Sirte, September 29, 2011. Libya's interim government has asked the United Nations for fuel for ambulances to evacuate its wounded fighters from the besieged city of Sirte amid reports of heavy casualties, a U.N. source in Libya said on Thursday.

Credit: Reuters/Esam Al-Fetori

By Joseph Logan and Rania El Gamal

SIRTE | Fri Sep 30, 2011 12:40pm EDT

SIRTE (Reuters) - Civilians fled Sirte on Friday as interim government forces pounded the coastal city in an effort to dislodge fighters loyal to ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The prolonged battle for Gaddafi's hometown, besieged from three fronts, has raised concern for civilians trapped inside the city of about 100,000 people, with each side accusing the other of endangering them.

Cars streamed out of Sirte from the early hours and into the afternoon. Shelling and tank fire continued from both sides on the eastern and western fronts, black smoke rose from the center of town and NATO planes flew overhead.

A Reuters team on the edge of Sirte heard five huge explosions just before sundown. It was not immediately clear what had caused the explosions.

Fighting was particularly heavy near a roundabout on the eastern outskirts of the city, where NTC forces have been pinned down by sniper and artillery fire for five days, Reuters journalists at the scene said.

Some fighters again fled the frontline under the fire.

"It's difficult, difficult," said anti-Gaddafi fighter Rami Moftah. "You know, with the snipers. You can't find them. Yesterday there was no ammunition. It was finished. I swear to God. If the Gaddafi people knew that they would have come and taken Sirte from us."

Several residents told Reuters they were leaving Sirte because they had not eaten for days.

"I am not scared. I am hungry," said Ghazi Abdul-Wahab, a Syrian who has lived in the town for 40 years, patting his stomach.

Abdul-Wahab said he had been sleeping in the streets with his family after a NATO airstrike hit a building next to his house, making him fear his home could also be struck.

"People inside are scared about their houses. People want to protect their houses," he said, adding that some locals may fight because they have heard the NTC wants to kill them.

"IS THIS HOW WE'RE SUPPOSED TO DIE?"

Some residents said they had paid up to $800 for the fuel to leave the city because it was in short supply. Others said pasta and flour were now changing hands for large sums of money.

Doctors at a field hospital near the eastern front line said an elderly woman died from malnutrition on Friday morning and they had seen other cases.

A man with a shrapnel wound to his left arm said the hospital in Sirte had no power and few supplies. A doctor had tried to patch up his wound by the light of a mobile phone.

"I was injured in my garden at 1 p.m. but I stayed home until the evening because of the heavy fire," Mohammed Abudullah said at a field hospital outside the city.

Gaddafi loyalists and some civilians were blaming NATO air strikes and shelling by the forces of the National Transitional Council (NTC) for killing civilians.

NATO and the NTC deny that. They and some other civilians coming out of the town say pro-Gaddafi fighters are executing people they believe to be NTC sympathizers.

"It is not the Gaddafi people and not you people," one elderly man shouted, gesturing toward NTC fighters at a checkpoint as he left the city.

"It's the French planes that are hitting us night and day. They knocked the roof off our house. Is this how we're supposed to die?"

Ahmad Mohammed Yahya told Reuters street fighting was erupting in the town most nights and that pro-Gaddafi fighters were aggressively recruiting local people.

"Sometimes they offer to give you a weapon," he said. "And sometimes they take people and force them to fight."

The NTC is under pressure to strike a balance between a prolonged fight that would delay its efforts to govern and a quick victory which, if too bloody, could worsen regional divisions and embarrass the fledgling government and its foreign backers.

HUMANITARIAN DISASTER

Aid agencies said this week a humanitarian disaster loomed in Sirte amid rising casualties and shrinking supplies of water, electricity and food.

Libya's interim government has asked the United Nations for fuel for ambulances to evacuate its wounded fighters from Sirte, a U.N. source in Libya said on Thursday.

The U.N. is sending trucks of drinking water for the civilians crammed into vehicles on the road from Sirte, heading either toward Benghazi to the east or Misrata to the west, he added.

But fighting around the city and continuing insecurity around Bani Walid, the other loyalist hold-out, are preventing the world body from deploying aid workers inside, he said.

"There are two places we'd really like access to, Sirte and Bani Walid, because of concern on the impact of conflict on the civilian population," the U.N. source in Tripoli, speaking by telephone on condition of anonymity, told Reuters in Geneva.

The NTC says efforts to form a new interim government have been suspended until after the capture of Sirte and Bani Walid.

There has been speculation that divisions are preventing the formation of a more inclusive interim government.

More than a month after NTC fighters captured Tripoli, Gaddafi remains on the run, trying to rally resistance to those who ended his 42-year rule.

The military chief of Libya's new interim government attended a meeting on Friday between Tuareg tribesmen and local Arabs in the southwestern town of Ghadames aimed at patching up differences that have recently spilled over into violence.

The Saharan trading town close to the Algerian border drew international attention this week when an NTC official said Gaddafi was believed to be hiding nearby.

(Additional reporting by Mahdi Talat in Sirte, William MacLean in Tripoli, Ali Shuaib in Ghademes and Emad Omar in Benghazi; Writing by Barry Malone; Editing by Sophie Hares)

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Libyan interim government forces capture Sirte airport

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1 of 10. Smoke rises as anti-Gaddafi fighters fire from a tank during clashes with pro-Gaddafi forces, near the entrance of Sirte, September 28, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Asmaa Waguih

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AUDIO: The Valley of in the Libyan city of Sirte siege

September 29, 2011 to help stand 11: 32 GMT

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Libyan forces take Sirte airport

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29 September 2011 Last updated at 12:18 GMT There has been intense fighting in and around the city of Sirte Forces loyal to Libya's transitional authorities have taken the airport in the city of Sirte, the birthplace of fugitive leader Muammar Gaddafi.

A BBC correspondent says jubilant fighters moved through the partially destroyed terminal buildings tearing down symbols of the Gaddafi regime.

Gaddafi loyalists have put up stiff resistance in Sirte.

Two weeks ago transitional forces took the airport, a short distance from the city centre, but were then driven back.

The BBC's Jonathan Head says that this time they hope to hold it, despite facing continued rocket and gunfire from the other side of the runway.

Fighters arriving from the west and east say they will then mount a joint attack on Gaddafi loyalists, hoping to push them back towards the sea and to squeeze them into ever smaller areas of the city centre, our correspondent adds.

The airport is about 5km (3 miles) from central Sirte.

Forces loyal to Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) also recently seized Sirte's port.

Nato planes have been carrying out air strikes in the area against military targets including ammunition storage facilities.

Sirte and the city of Bani Walid are the last major areas under the control of Gaddafi loyalists, and both have seen heavy fighting in recent days.

Col Gaddafi's whereabouts are still unknown, though NTC officials have said they believe he may be hiding in Libya's southern desert.

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Libya conflict: Smoke and explosions mark Sirte battle

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26 September 2011 Last updated at 22:05 GMT By Alastair Leithead BBC News, Sirte It was the thick black smoke which signalled an assault on Sirte city centre - the green Gaddafi flags clearly still flying high over the outskirts.

They said a Nato bomb had struck pro-Gaddafi positions, but we did not see or hear it as the first battle got under way to take a well-defended gate.

We arrived as troops loyal to the National Transitional Council had taken control of it and rushed forward, trying to pull a string of green flags from a lamp post.

They fired at the rope in an effort to break it as bullets ricocheted off the metal, but then all pulled at the rope together as the flags fluttered onto the road to be ripped and torn.

A hail of celebratory gunfire marked the moment they had reached Col Gaddafi's birthplace - they have fought every mile of Libya's long coast road from Benghazi to reach here.

For weeks they have advanced west, steadily breaking through defensive line after defensive line across the road in the desert, next to the sea.

Street fighting

But there was not long for them to enjoy the moment - as the pro-Gaddafi troops reorganised themselves and bullets started flying.

We raced back up the road to behind a concrete water tower where we watched the battle for the city proper to begin.

The roar and flash of rockets crashed across town as the fighting moved onto the streets.

The staccato tear of machine gun fire was broken by the crunch of incoming rockets and mortar bombs.

Bullets whistled overhead as a group of NTC fighters edged along a wall before firing grenades and machine guns in the general direction of the city centre - into its impressive buildings and new construction sites.

Lucky escape

We had met many civilians escaping Sirte earlier in the day - the city centre is now incredibly dangerous for those unable to get away from the fighting.

Their faces told a story of fear - they had been short of food, water and electricity they told us - scared of what might happen if they stayed, or if they left.

Many residents of Sirte have been fleeing as the fighting moves into the city

A woman looked out at the soldiers from the back seat of a saloon car, clearly terrified.

They said they were told the rebels would kill them, slit their throats; but instead they were welcomed with water and fuel for their cars.

Hundreds have made it out over the past few days as the NTC troops advanced.

One had a lucky escape - his car had a twisted metal scar after being hit by a bullet.

"People in Sirte are waiting for you, they have been waiting since February 17th," he said.

"Sirte will welcome you. It's open, take it."

As the sun set the firing continued - artillery shells from the south, more troops entering in the west, constant fighting in the east.

Armed pick-up trucks gathered behind walls and behind piles of earth, continuing to fire as the wind from the sea whipped up the sand and the rocket smoke to create an eerie, hazy orange light.

Snipers will move around at night, positions will be dug in ready for daybreak as the once rag-tag rebels battle for one of the few remaining Gaddafi strongholds.

It is a hugely symbolic prize in their bid to control the whole country.

How long the battle lasts depends on the determination of those defending Sirte, and their appetite to fight for it street-by-street.

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Libya's NTC readies new push into Sirte

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1 of 15. An anti-Gaddafi fighter stand guard near tanks at the Wadi Dinar checkpoint near the city of Bani Walid, about 170 km (105 miles) southeast of Tripoli September 26, 2011. A month after ousting Gaddafi's forces from Tripoli and most of the country, the challenge to the NTC's rule is now focused in Sirte and Bani Walid.

Credit: Reuters/Youssef Boudlal

By Joseph Logan

TRIPOLI | Mon Sep 26, 2011 4:36am EDT

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Fighters backing Libya's interim rulers prepared to renew their advance into the coastal city of Sirte on Monday after NATO aircraft bombed targets in Muammar Gaddafi's home town to sap the resistance of the deposed leader's troops.

Anti-Gaddafi forces had pushed to within a few hundred meters of the center of Sirte, one of the last bastions of pro-Gaddafi resistance in Libya, but drew back on Sunday while NATO aircraft launched their attacks.

Sirte lies between the capital Tripoli and the eastern city of Benghazi, both now held by the National Transitional Council, whose fighters toppled Gaddafi last month, six months into a campaign that is not yet over.

Taking Sirte would be a huge boost for the NTC as it tries to establish credibility as a government able to unite Libya's fractious tribes and regions, and a blow for Gaddafi, widely believed to be on the run inside Libya.

Gaddafi loyalists showed they were still a threat by launching an attack on Sunday on the desert oasis town of Ghadames, on the border with Algeria, NTC officials said.

The NTC said on Sunday its followers had found a mass grave containing the bodies of 1,270 people killed by Gaddafi's security forces in a 1996 massacre of prison inmates in southern Tripoli.

The mass grave was the first physical evidence found so far of the Abu Salim prison massacre, an event that was covered up for years but created simmering anger that ultimately helped bring about Gaddafi's downfall.

Survivors have told human rights groups that guards lined up inmates in the courtyards of the Abu Salim prison at dawn on June 29, 1996, and security men standing on the prison rooftops shot them down.

The uprising that toppled Gaddafi was ignited by protests linked to the Abu Salim massacre. In February, families of inmates killed there demonstrated in Benghazi to demand the release of their lawyer.

There was little fighting on Sunday on the ground west of Sirte, where NTC fighters have advanced closest to the center.

On the eastern side, their forces pushed to within 9 miles of the city center, an advance of more than 25 km.

A Reuters reporter there said NTC forces had been helped by NATO bombing, and said she could hear artillery fire and see black smoke on the horizon. Doctors at a hospital east of Sirte said one fighter had been killed and 12 wounded in clashes.

Gaddafi's spokesman contacted Reuters to deny reports that Gaddafi and his family had helped themselves to Libya's oil wealth, giving an insight into his current preoccupations.

"The leader of the revolution and his family are among the poorest citizens," said the spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim. He spoke by telephone and did not reveal where he was calling from.

Accounts from NTC fighters and people who had left Sirte indicated pro-Gaddafi forces were trying to prevent civilians from fleeing, effectively using them as human shields.

"Gaddafi's forces have surrounded the area, closed it off, by shooting at people," said a man called Youssef, driving away from Sirte with his wife. "There are a lot of people who want to get out but can't."

A man saying he was a hospital doctor in Sirte told Reuters by telephone it was NTC forces who were making civilians suffer. Wounded people were dying because medical supplies were running out and the hospital had been hit by shellfire, he said.

The doctor, who gave his name as Abdullah Hmaid, used the mobile telephone of the Gaddafi spokesman, Ibrahim, who is a native of Sirte.

FRAGILE GRIP

The attack by pro-Gaddafi forces on Ghadames underlined the fragility of the NTC's grip even on parts of the country nominally under its control.

The town, about 600 km southwest of Tripoli, is near a border crossing that pro-Gaddafi Libyans have used to flee into Algeria. Its old town, an intricate maze of mud walls, is a UNESCO world heritage site.

"These militias have attacked our people in Ghadames city," the NTC's Bani told a news conference, adding that NTC fighters expected to be in full control of the area in "a matter of days."

A month after ousting Gaddafi's forces from Tripoli and most of the country, the challenge to the NTC's rule is now focused in Sirte and Bani Walid, a town about 170 km (105 miles) southeast of Tripoli.

Until both are captured, Libya's new rulers say they cannot begin the process of holding elections. Wrangling over ministerial portfolios has prevented them from forming a caretaker government, deepening uncertainty over the country's future.

(Additional reporting by in Tripoli, Alexander Dziadosz in Sirte, Sherine El Madany east of Sirte, Emad Omar in Benghazi and John O'Donnell in Brussels; Writing by Tim Pearce; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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