16/09/2011 10:44
Libyan rebels captured Sirte Muammar Gaddafi’s birthplace
Libyan rebels claimed on Thursday night to have captured Sirte, the birthplace of Muammar Gaddafi and the last of his coastal strongholds.
The city was said to have fallen after an attack involving 900 "technicals" – armed pickup trucks – that attacked loyalist positions from three directions, the Guardian reports.
The council, which controlled the operation, said the attack began at dawn on Thursday with an assault on the front line, 30 miles west of the city.
Gaddafi loyalists resisted with artillery, mortars and long-range Grad rockets, but frontline positions collapsed in the early afternoon and rebel units surged eastwards towards the city. Rebel surces said 11 of their fighters had been killed and they had captured 40 Gaddafi loyalists.