Rebels besiege Libyan cities in hunt for Gaddafi and sons

Libya’s new rulers believe Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi is hiding in the southern desert under the protection of ethnic Tuareg fighters, while two of his sons are holed up in cities besieged by revolutionary forces elsewhere in the North African nation.

More than a month since National Transitional Council fighters captured capital Tripoli, Gaddafi remains defiantly on the run pledging to lead a campaign of armed resistance against the new leaders.

Gaddafi could be holed up near the western town of Ghadames – near the Algerian border – under the protection of Tuaregs, a senior NTC official said.

“There has been a fight between Tuareg tribesmen loyal to Gaddafi and Arabs living there [in the south]. We are negotiating. The Gaddafi search is taking a different course,” NTC spokesman Hisham Buhagiar said.

Many Tuaregs, nomads who roam the desert spanning the borders of Libya and its neighbours, have backed Gaddafi since he supported their rebellions against the governments of Mali and Niger in the 1970s and allowed them to settle in Libya.

Colonel Ahmed Bani, NTC military spokesman, added that they believe Gaddafi’s most prominent son, Saif al-Islam, is in Bani Walid and another son Muatassim is in Sirte.

Sirte, Gaddafi’s bithplace, is currently the focus of NTC military operations and rebel forces launched a renewed offensive there yesterday.

Hundreds of men in pick-ups sporting anti-aircraft guns surged forward to join rebels battling for the airport. “We heard on their radio that the loyalists want to rocket our position. But we think they are out of ammunition, and they can’t whilst butterflies are in the sky,” grinned a rebel fighter as Nato planes roared overhead.

Fighters, who had spent months pushing from the east, linked forces with brigades from Misrata on the western front this week. Rebel forces, a motley gathering of civilians with the odd Kalashnikov back in February, looked to be a force of formidable power.

Trucks were piled high with rockets, mortars, rocket propelled grenades and bullets, and tanks rolled down the road, tricolour flags streaming from the tops. On the vantage point of a desert dune, interim government forces positioned tanks and lines of rocket launchers. Rebels had said they were holding back their offensive for fear of injuring civilians. But yesterday, plumes of smoke rose as the barrages hit the city. Families fled in terror.

“They are bombing us and women and children are dying. Last night it got too bad; our neighbours’ house was hit, so we decided to flee,” said Amer Abu Bakr, 67.

Over three thousand men, women and children have fled the besieged city in the past three days. Fearfully crossing the front lines in search of refuge, they described grim and bloody conditions inside the town.

“There is no medicine, no food, no electricity. It is a disaster,” said Mohammed Omar Farjan, 37, his two sons sitting wide eyed on the laps of their mother and aunties crammed in the back of a car.

The city hospital is occupied by loyalist fighters and has run short of basics, including anaesthetic to deal with wounded residents. Power and phone lines have been cut since Tripoli was captured by rebels in August, and fuel costs had soared to more than 300 dinar (£200) for 20 litres, said fleeing families.

Regime forces and loyalist volunteers controlling the centre of the city were hostile to their escape, said residents.

“They took all of our identity cards. They shouted and cursed at us, calling us rats and traitors,” said Milad Ali, 22. “Three days ago a group of 30 cars tried to leave the main gate; they took all of their cards and sent them to their homes.”

Civilians fleeing Sirte had little knowledge of events beyond the city. “In Tripoli there is still fighting with groups from two areas taking back the capital. Misrata is over-run with Islamists,” said one man. “This is what our radio reports.”