Libyan rebels unveil latest DIY weapon

Onto a battlefield littered with home-made weaponry, Libya’s ruling militia fighters have rolled out their weirdest contraption yet: a concrete and steel behemoth that’s a cross between a bulldozer and a battleship.

The towering monster, which appeared yesterday in Sirte to help capture Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi’s home town, has a pointed prow and portholes on its sides with steel covers that can be pulled down. It is manned by four gunners who have five heavy machine guns inside and a tank gun mounted on top.

Clad in concrete sandwiched between steel plates, the vehicle has been built on to a tracked bulldozer and is designed to smash through roadblocks and barricades.

However, things may be tricky – the driver cannot see out. Yesterday a rebel commander wearing a ship’s captain’s hat sat on top and shouted directions as driver Gebril Ali manouevred up to the battlefront. The craft smashed into a lamp-post.