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Gadhafi's fighters beat back assault on strongholds
MSNBC ^ | 9/16/2011
Posted on September 17, 2011 4:33:47 PM EDT by MinorityRepublican
Anti-Gadhafi fighters carry their wounded comrade during fighting at the frontline, in the north of the besieged city of Bani Walid on Friday.
BANI WALID, Libya — Moammar Gadhafi's fighters beat back an attempt by Libya's new government Friday to crush remnants of the old regime, forcing revolutionary troops into retreat in the mountains and turning Gadhafi's seaside hometown into an urban battlefield of snipers firing from mosques and heavy weapons rattling main boulevards.
The tough defense of the holdout towns of Sirte and Bani Walid displayed the firepower and resolve of the Gadhafi followers and suggested Libya's new rulers may not easily break the back of regime holdouts. It also raised fears the country could face a protracted insurgency of the sort that has played out in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The Gadhafi loyalists have so many weapons," cried Maab Fatel, a 28-year-old revolutionary fighter on the front lines in the mountain enclave of Bani Walid, southeast of Tripoli.
"This battle is really crazy," Fatel said, his uniform splattered with blood from carrying a wounded comrade.
Revolutionary forces began the day by streaming into Bani Walid but pulled back after intense fighting failed to dislodge pro-Gadhafi snipers and gunners from strategic positions. The two sides traded relentless mortar and rocket fire across a 500-yard-wide desert valley called Wadi Zeitoun that divides the town between north and south.
Mohaned Bendalla, a doctor at a field hospital in nearby Wishtata, said at least six rebels were killed and more than 50 were wounded.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
