Libya: Capture of Bani Walid almost complete, National Transitional Council says
The National Transitional Council has announced through its military spokesman Col. Ahmed Bani, that its forces have managed to take almost complete control of the desert enclave of Bani Walid, one of the two last remaining bastions loyal to the Libyan leader Muammar Al Qathafi.
Bani said Monday that after two days of fighting and the capture of the strategic centre of the town, now 95 percent of the Bani Walid, which is 140 kilometres southeast of Tripoli, is in the hands of the revolutionaries.
The NTC fighters are also predicting that the remaining five per cent in which there are some pockets of resistance should be under their control within hours.
The NTC fighters used all the heavy weapons they could muster, tanks and artillery during their two-day onslaught and in the face of such an attack during which key positions like the key hospital and other strategic buildings, the Al Qathafi’s loyalist troops either surrendered or retreated further inside the city.