Muammar Qaddafi loyalists fired at least 10 rockets from inside one of his last strongholds yesterday, hours after a TV station aired an audio message believed to be from the ousted Libyan leader urging his fighters on.
Reporters with the forces who chased Qaddafi from the capital late last month heard at least 10 loud explosions along the desert front line at Bani Walid, a dusty town of 100,000 about 140km southeast of Tripoli. The barrage followed early morning skirmishing in the same area.
Smoke billowed from where the projectiles landed in Wadi Dinar, about 19km outside the town. The former rebels said the projectiles fired were Grad rockets.
Thousands of fighters for Libya’s new leadership have converged on Bani Walid. Officials have said a number of prominent regime loyalists, including Qaddafi’s son and one-time heir apparent Seif al-Islam, were believed to be inside.
From hiding hours earlier, Qaddafi denied rumors he had fled Libya, vowed never to leave the land of his ancestors and exhorted followers to keep fighting. The message was broadcast on a loyalist TV channel.
In a five-minute audio, aired on Syrian-based al-Rai TV, a man who sounded like Qaddafi denounced reports that he had fled to neighboring Niger and claimed he was still in Libya. He called those who ousted him “a bunch of mercenaries, thugs and traitors.”
“We are ready to start the fight in Tripoli and everywhere else, and rise up against them,” Qaddafi said. “All of these germs, rats and scumbags, they are not Libyans, ask anyone. They have cooperated with NATO.”
Niger officials have said senior members of Qaddafi’s regime led by his security chief crossed from Libya on Tuesday. Niger said the group of 13 did not include Qaddafi and US officials have said they have no reason to believe Qaddafi is not in Libya, but reports of the apparent defection of some of his top aides — and rumors that it involved a large number of senior soldiers who left with money and gold — is believed to have undermined morale among Qaddafi loyalists.
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