[Tripoli Post] After mounting successful attacks on Muammar Al Qadaffy's...who single-handedly turned a moderately prosperous kingdom into a dictator's fantasyland...
hometown of Sirte, during which they came as close as half a kilometre from the centre of the runaway leader's former coastal stronghold, the National Transitional Council forces have reportedly made a tactical retreat.
NTC fighters on pick-up vehicles mounted with machine guns raced into the town's centre, backed up by NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
jets, on Saturday, with one of the fighters explaining to Rooters that they faced snipers on the roof of mosques and buildings, including houses. He said that the NTC assault plan has divided Sirte into three zones.
This morning, one of the NTC commanders, Fathi Bafhaaga said that they took area number one and they were fighting in area number two holding the positions until the morning. But journalists at the scene saying it was the deepest NTC fighters had got into Sirte, were unable to verify whether the NTC was holding onto its overnight gains .
In the meantime, NATO said that in the battle for Sirte its planes had hit a number of targets in the city in the previous 24 hours, including an ammunition depot and an anti-aircraft gun. It said in a statement that the air attacks had been mounted to protect civilians from pro-Al Qadaffy forces inside the town.
NTC commanders said earlier that their advance on Sirte has been hampered by the presence of large numbers of civilians, many of whom have decamped in the past week.
Libya's National Transitional Council fighters, using heavy artillery and tanks, and backed by NATO warplanes, on Saturday launched a fierce two-pronged assault on Sirte and managed to reach the centre of Al Qadaffy's hometown, that the Al Qadaffy loyalists have held for months.
The NTC fighters supported by NATO had to battle against mortar, rocket-propelled grenades and snipers during an explosive scene that must have left a lot of casualties but also freed many residents who had been forced to provide a human shield for Al Qadaffy's loyalists.
The NTC were hoping they could capture the whole city by Sunday and declare an end game for Sirte, a city 400km southeast of Tripoli on the country's Mediterranean coast.
In the two-pronged attack from the south and the east of the city, using tanks and pick-up trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns, the NTC forces cleared away roadblocks set up by the pro-Al Qadaffy forces and drove toward the city centre before putting up their own defences in advanced positions.
Misrata military council spokesperson Abdel Ibrahim said seven NTC fighters were killed and 145 injured. Ambulances had a hard time to carry casualties from the fighting.
In the attack on Sirte, the fighters who had been waiting for weeks to push forward, were reinforced by other fighters who had taken part in the liberation of Al-Jaffra who advanced from the south.
The battle that started Saturday morning raged on in the afternoon when they managed to occupy a key Zafaran roundabout west of Sirte's downtown area.
After more fighting into the evening, there was a lull for the night, but the attack resumed early Sunday before the NTC's so-called tactical retreat.
Frontline fighters are convinced that one of Al Qadaffy's sons, Muatassim, who was reported as having been behind the organization of the his father's loyalists, is holed up in the city's southern outskirts.
NTC operations commander Osama Muttawa Swehly told AFP: "Mutassim is in there. We hear him on the radio giving orders."