Pro-government forces seize Bani Walid
Pro-government forces in Libya have seized control of Bani Walid, the last bastion of Colonel Gaddafi’s supporters. It comes twenty days after government miliitias encircled the city – blocking all food, medicine, and humanitarian aid from entering.
Hundreds of fighters fired their guns in the air and raised the Libyan flag on abandoned public buildings in celebration.
Other fighters blasted the windows and walls of nearby buildings with Kalashnikov rifles and anti-tank rockets.
The fighters were mostly former rebels from the rival town of Misrata.
Rebel chiefs told AFP that some resistence was taking place in the southern area of the town, but that the region was “almost liberated.”
Government militias have blockaded the town for the past 20 days, seeking to arrest those responsible for the death of Omran Shaaban – the man credited with capturing Muammar Gaddafi last year. The Warfalla tribe controlling Bani Walid was accused of kidnapping and torturing Shaaban.
Wednesday’s victorious fighters carried a large portrait of Shaaban.
