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| Africa North |
| At Least 2 Dead in Shelling of ex-Gadhafi Bastion in Libya |
| 2012-10-20 |
| [An Nahar] Libyan fighters linked to the army on Friday pounded the town of Bani Walid, a former bastion of toppled strongman Muammar Qadaffy ... one of those little rainstorms from the Arab Spring... , killing at least two people, local sources said. "We have received two people dead and 16 maimed until now," said Abdullah al-Mansouri, deputy director of Bani Walid's hospital. "The shelling is ongoing so the number of casualties could grow," he said, adding that those killed were a 13-year-old boy and a man in his fifties. The military commander of the town, Salem al-Waer, gave a higher toll and said shelling had intensified. "Five people were killed and more than 40 homes destroyed by rocket fire and mortar rounds," Waer told Agence La Belle France Presse by telephone. Skirmishes between Bani Walid fighters and Misrata "militias" were concentrated on the outskirts of the hilltop town, including in the nearby valley of Mardum, the commander said. "But we are in control of the town," he added. The spike in violence comes one year after rebels defeated die-hard loyalists of the former regime both in Bani Walid and the desert city of Sirte, hometown of Qadaffy who was captured and killed on October 20, 2011. The crisis in Bani Walid was triggered by the death of Omran Shaaban, a native of rival city Misrata who was credited with catching Qadaffy. Shaaban, 22, was kidnapped in July and held hostage for weeks in the oasis town, where he was allegedly tortured, before the authorities brokered his release. He died last month of gunshot wounds sustained during his ordeal. |
| Posted by:Fred |