http://www.smh.com.au/world/gaddafi-general-seized-amid-fierce-resistance-20110920-1kjgs.html Gaddafi general seized amid fierce resistance Tripoli September 21, 2011 Cars in a convoy of civilians fleeing the fighting in Sirt, Colonel Gaddafi's home town, wait for clearance at a checkpoint on the road to Misrata. Photo: NYT
A SENIOR general loyal to Muammar Gaddafi has been captured in southern Libya, according to an official from the country's new regime, as the hunt for the toppled dictator intensifies. ''General Belgacem al-Abaaj, Colonel Gaddafi's intelligence chief in the al-Kufra region, was captured'' on Monday some 100 kilometres from southern Libyan town of Sabha, said Mohamed Wardugu, spokesman for the Desert Shield Brigade in Benghazi. General Abaaj, who had been sought by the forces of the National Transitional Council, was seized with members of his family who were travelling in a four-wheel-drive convoy. During lulls between mortar and rocket barrages, hundreds of civilians fled Colonel Gaddafi's stronghold of Sirt after five days of fierce clashes - raising fears of another bloody siege. Many of those fleeing said they were persuaded to leave by the anti-Gaddafi forces and told they would be able to return to their homes within days. They said there was no water or electricity in the city and food supplies were dwindling. Stray bullets smashed their windows, they said, and rockets had landed on their houses. One man fleeing with his family said the hospitals were out of oxygen, the nurses had fled and the city was full of snipers. ''We've been hiding in our house all this time,'' he said. Almost a month after the fall of Tripoli, the capital, the former rebels have found themselves unable to close out their war with Gaddafi loyalists and unify the country. Late last week, as attempts at negotiations with the hold-outs faltered, the rebels tried to advance on Sirt and Bani Walid, another Gaddafi stronghold south-east of Tripoli. The colonel's loyalists repelled those advances with surprising ferocity, raising questions about the resolve of the anti-Gaddafi fighters in the face of apparently committed foes. Even so, the fighters under the banner of the new transitional government have recorded a few gains. In the south on Monday, they said they had captured an airfield outside Sabha, another base of Gaddafi support. The rebels also captured a hospital and a convention centre in the city, according to a spokesman for the local Sabha council based in Benghazi. Sirt, Colonel Gaddafi's birthplace, has been tightly controlled by his troops since the February uprising. The stream of cars filing out of Sirt on Monday morning suggested that talk of negotiations was over, as the anti-Gaddafi forces seemed to be preparing for another violent assault. Some refugees said many of the town's residents still supported Colonel Gaddafi, perhaps as much as a quarter of the population, including some who were volunteering to fight. NEW YORK TIMES, AFP Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/gaddafi-general-seized-amid-fierce-resistance-20110920-1kjgs.html#ixzz1Yc05IQWa [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
