Reply #57: Libya govt says takes landmarks in Gaddafi hometown - Reuters [View All]

[pinboy3niner]

By Rania El Gamal and Tim Gaynor

SIRTE, Libya | Sun Oct 9, 2011 3:39pm EDT


(Reuters) - Libyan government forces captured landmark buildings in a thrust toward the center of Muammar Gaddafi's hometown Sirte, but came under a fierce counter attack which inflicted dozens of casualties.

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National Transitional Council (NTC) forces captured Sirte's main hospital as well as the university and a lavishly built international conference center, but one large group of anti-Gaddafi fighters fled in disarray after coming under an intense mortar volley.

The university, seized overnight, also came under a sustained counter-attack, as did the conference center.

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But even as the Gaddafi counter attack appeared to be underway, another group of fighters was attacking a number of buildings in the center of the city that they said housed Gaddafi's security forces, a Reuters witness said.

"We are now in the center of Sirte," said commander Salam Al Shalmany. "They are in these buildings about half a kilometer from where we are. Once we finish this, it's over. This has gone on too long."

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/09/us-libya-idUSL5E7KT4YC20111009?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews