رويترز: المدنيين انضموا للجيش الليبي في محاربة الجرذان في سرت

رويترز: المدنيين انضموا للجيش الليبي في محاربة الجرذان في سرت
Civilians join Gaddafi fighters to defend hometown

(Reuters) -
Libyan fighters battled street by street for control of Muammar's
Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte for the third day on Saturday, taking
sniper, assault rifle and rocket fire from his loyalists perched on the
city's rooftops.


Orange flashes of gunfire mixed
with dust and black smoke over the sand-colored buildings of the
seaside city as scores of machinegun and rocket launcher-mounted
pick-ups trucks snaked through its streets.
Ambulances rushed away from the battle bearing wounded fighters west as the pro-Gaddafi men defended their ground.
Ruling
National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters said it was unclear how
many Gaddafi loyalists were in the city but several suggested that some
of Sirte's civilian residents had started joining the fight on the
ousted leader's side.
"There have
been heavy clashes since this morning," NTC fighter, Mahmoud Terbelu,
said as he stood in the middle of a large roundabout littered with
bullet casings.
"There has been
some resistance from civilians, volunteers. They're above the buildings
with Kalashnikovs, anti-aircraft guns, rockets and other weapons," he
said.
A green and beige building stood at the roundabout scarred by rocket fire in the last two days of fighting.
Dozens of pick-up trucks circled the town, fighters standing with rifles ready or drinking juice in the midday heat.
NTC
soldiers said they had been battling for the city on three fronts --
from the west, the south and the east entrances -- but had been
advancing slowly.
"There's been
fighting by the sea and in the city," said one fighter who did not give
his name. "We are gathering and then advancing. We are retaking it step
by step."
ZIP AND CRACK OF BATTLE
Down
the road from the roundabout, fighters gathered and traded fire with an
unseen gunman, taking cover behind breeze block walls and behind
pickups.
A gated compound of
seaside villas stood on the opposite side of the road, which rebels said
were guesthouses where diplomats and other visitors to the city had
stayed.
The Mediterranean glistened behind them.
A
black pick-up truck rolled down the road from the direction of the
city, a fighter in army fatigues slumped over the anti-aircraft
machine-gun mounted on the back.
Blood poured down his arms and from his torso onto ammunition cartridges.
Men shouted "God is greatest" as he was loaded into the back of a field ambulance.
His comrade, wearing sunglasses and a black and white scarf, washed the blood from his hands using a water bottle.
Most
of the NTC fighters come from the port city of Misrata and bear a
special grudge against Gaddafi after a months-long siege devastated
large parts of that city.
They
spray-painted "Free Libya" and the names of their brigades over the once
ubiquitous posters that displayed Gaddafi slogans and welcomed foreign
diplomats to the city.
Many fighters said sniper fire still posed a challenge to the advance as well as the presence of civilians.
Gaddafi
spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, told Reuters on Saturday that NATO
airstrikes on Sirte had killed 357 civilians overnight -- an allegation
NATO said may be unfounded.
"We don't want to use them," one NTC fighters told Reuters, gesturing toward two tanks
As
dusk set in, the NTC fighters began to pull back to their bases on the
outskirts of the city, satisfied with the progress they had made on
Saturday, and vowing to be back tomorrow.

الله يقويهم وينصرهم اعلى اضلام واولاد الحرام

ليبيا ليست للبيع ومن لايعرف الليبيين يشاهد فيلم عمر المختار

والله يا خوي باعوها والدم صار اكثر من الماء في ليبيا والكلاب تنبح بفرحتهم على التحرر
في حد يوضح لهم معنى التحرر
هالرويبضا الحقراء التافهين
يحسابو الخير جاي
جاية بلاوي سودا
القاعدة والسقف والكل ينهش فرصة قوم بلا راعي

الله اكبر النصر لشعب ليبيا المجاهد

الموت للخونة

الموت للخونة

إنه خبر مدسوس كالسم في الدسم من ومالة اليهود رويترز، الخبر لتبرير قتل المدنيين بالقصف.[center]