Libyan interim government forces bent on seizing former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s remaining strongholds fell back after another chaotic attack on the desert town of Bani Walid yesterday, but renewed their battle for the deposed leader’s birthplace of Sirte.
The motley forces of the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) have met stiff resistance in Qaddafi’s last bastions, which they must capture before the NTC can declare the country “liberated” and begin work on a constitution before elections.
Since Tripoli fell to rebels on Aug. 23, rumors have swirled about whether Qaddafi is in Bani Walid, Sirte, the southern desert town of Sabha or elsewhere. His spokesman said on Saturday that the ousted leader was still in Libya, directing resistance.
Anti-Qaddafi fighters have tried several times to storm Bani Walid, 150km southeast of Tripoli in recent days. Their latest attempt ended yesterday with a disorderly retreat under heavy rocket fire from the town’s defenders.
NTC fighters said they had planned for tanks and pickup trucks with anti-aircraft guns and rocket launchers to lead the attack, but foot soldiers had piled in first without orders.
“There is a lack of organization so far. Infantry men are running in all directions,” said Zakaria Tuham, a senior fighter with a Tripoli-based brigade. “Our commanders had been told that heavy artillery units had already gone ahead, but when we advanced into Bani Walid, they were nowhere to be seen.
Anti-Qaddafi fighters from Bani Walid blamed their comrades from elsewhere in Libya for being disorganized and unwilling to coordinate. Those from elsewhere accused some local fighters of being traitors and passing information to Qaddafi loyalists.
NTC forces also attacked Sirte, Qaddafi’s birthplace, firing rockets from the city’s southern entrance and trading fire with Qaddafi loyalists holed up in a conference center.
Scores of civilian cars and pickup trucks poured out of the city, with residents describing water and electricity shortages amid street fighting. Qaddafi forces were patrolling the streets in the center, they said, making their lives a misery.
“The situation is very bad. People are living in terror,” resident Taher al-Menseli, 33, said as NTC fighters searched his car at a checkpoint. “Qaddafi supporters are trying to convince people the revolutionaries are criminals and that you have to kill them. Even if you don’t believe this, you have to appear convinced.”
Qaddafi’s spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, said NATO air raids had killed 354 people in Sirte on Friday night, an accusation that could not be verified without access to the city. A NATO spokesman in Naples, Italy said previous such reports had been false.
“We will be able to continue this fight and we have enough arms for months and months to come,” Ibrahim said in a call to Reuters via satellite telephone on Saturday.
British warplanes, operating under NATO’s UN mandate to protect Libyan civilians, bombed a Qaddafi ammunition dump west of Sirte yesterday, after destroying an armored troop carrier and two armored pickup trucks in the Sirte area the day before, a British military spokesman said.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a