Libya’s new regime forces were on the verge of claiming full control of Muammar Gaddafi’s hometown Sirte after seizing its showpiece conference centre and university from his diehards on Sunday.
In their advance, fighters of the National Transitional Council (NTC) also seized control of the Mediterranean town’s hospital and university campus, AFP correspondents said.
The fortress-like Ouagadougou conference centre, constructed to host pan-African summits, has been a major objective of the NTC forces since they launched a September 15 offensive on the city.
“We control 100 per cent of the Ouagadougou centre,” said Mohammed al-Fayad, an NTC military chief, adding the capture “opens the way” for his forces to overrun the city centre.
An AFP correspondent on the spot confirmed the NTC fighters were in control of the landmark complex. “We are ready to take the centre” of Sirte “within a matter of hours,” Mr Fayad said.
“It is only a question of coordination between (Misurata fighters on) the western front and (Benghazi fighters on) the eastern front. We just need time.”
As he spoke, NTC fighters spread throughout the sprawling complex, tearing down portraits of the fugitive Gaddafi and the green flags of his fallen 42-year regime.
They later advanced another kilometre north along streets littered with debris and lined by pock-marked buildings towards the heart of the city.
At the war-ravaged centre, giant windows were all blasted in and its metal roof had caved in under the artillery barrage.
“All this was built with the money of Libyans. It’s our money and yet no resident of Sirte was allowed to come here,” said one fighter, sitting back on a sofa.
NTC fighters also took control of the town’s Ibn Sina hospital, whose upper floors were all blasted.
A massive firefight broke out near the hospital late yesterday, with intense machinegun and rocket fire.
Patients’ beds lined ground floor corridors at the hospital. Some were unconscious and some with horrible injuries, most of them young men, an AFP correspondent said.
Osama Swehli Muttawa, an NTC field commander, said: “We took 50 prisoners. They were mostly mercenaries. They were lying in beds pretending to be wounded. Some were wounded. We found Kalashnikov and other weapons under their beds.”