Libya: Anti-Kadhafi fighters capture port of Sirte
Anti-Kadhafi fighters overran the port of Sirte early Tuesday, scoring a strategic victory in their battle for control of the defeated Libyan leader’s birthplace, his loyalists’ most important bastion.
Hundreds of fearful civilians have fled the Mediterranean coastal city in recent days as the new regime’s forces have closed in from east, south and west.
But as the National Transitional Council troops zero in on the centre of the sprawling city where Kadhafi diehards are believed to be holed up, the threat of destructive urban warfare street-by-street hangs over the remaining residents.
“There were clashes in the night and we now are controlling the port,” said Commander Mustafa bin Dardef of the NTC’s Zintan Brigade.