Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi used tanks, helicopters and warplanes to fight a growing revolt, witnesses said yesterday, as the veteran leader scoffed at reports he was fleeing after four decades in power. Warplanes bombed portions of the capital Tripoli yesterday in new attacks in the Mediterranean coastal city, and mercenaries fired on civilians, al-Jazeera reported.
In the eastern town of al-Bayda, resident Marai al-Mahry said by telephone that 26 people, including his brother Ahmed, had been shot dead overnight by Qaddafi loyalists.
“They shoot you just for walking on the street,” the resident said, sobbing uncontrollably as he appealed for help.
Protesters were being attacked with tanks and warplanes, he said.
“The only thing we can do now is not give up, no surrender, no going back. We will die anyways, whether we like it or not. It is clear that they don’t care whether we live or not. This is genocide,” Mahry, 42, said.
Hundred of refugees streamed into Egypt yesterday, piled onto tractors and trucks, describing a wave of killing and banditry unleashed by the revolt.
“Five people died on the street where I live,” Mohamed Jalaly, 40, said at Salum on his way to Cairo from Benghazi.
“You leave Benghazi and then you have ... nothing but gangs and youths with weapons,” he said. “The way from Benghazi is extremely dangerous.”
CPC CORP, TAIWAN
CPC Corp, Taiwan said it would withdraw its staff from Libya because of the unrest there.
The Taipei-based company has asked all employees in Tripoli, except the unit’s chief, to leave as soon as possible, CPC vice president Paul Chen said by telephone yesterday.
CPC has drilled two exploration wells in Libya and planned a third, Chen said. The company hasn’t made any oil and gas discoveries in the nation, he said.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
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