The son of Col Muammar Gaddafi who had been leading the defence of the city of Sirte has been captured and is being held for questioning, according to officials in the country's interim government.
Mutassim Gaddafi, the son of Col Muammar Gaddafi Photo: E{A
By Ben Farmer, and Ruth Sherlock in Sirte
10:55PM BST 12 Oct 2011
10 Comments
Three officials in the National Transitional Council (NTC) said Mutassim Gaddafi, the toppled leader's fifth son, was seized trying to flee the city on Tuesday hiding in a family car.
Mutassim, believed to be aged 34, who was national security adviser to his father, was then taken to Benghazi for questioning according to Col Abdullah Naker.
A powerful figure in the Gaddafi regime, he had been considered a rival to his brother Saif al-Islam in the competition to succeed his father.
Rebel brigades camped around the besieged city responded to the news by shooting streams of tracer fire into the night sky in celebration.
"If this news is true then definitely the fighting will be over in Sirte by tomorrow," said one fighter from Misurata's Lions of the Wadi brigade.
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The news came after another day of heavy fighting which saw Gaddafi loyalist defences collapse into a last, desperate pocket.
By nightfall some rebel brigades had begun to gather in the city's Green Square and prematurely celebrate the fall of the coastal city.
However further west loyalists were still desperately fighting in the pocket estimated to be 1,000 yards by 500 yards, close to the seafront, against an onslaught which has devastated large sections of the city.
With Sirte clear of loyalist forces apart from the pocket inside a neighbourhood known as "district two", the revolutionary forces were able to mass overwhelming firepower on the area.
Revolutionary brigades fought through knee-deep water from burst water mains and shielded their advance with volleys of anti-aircraft fire into any building which may be sheltering soldiers loyal to Gaddafi.
Tanks and rockets joined the barrage, blasting chunks of masonry from the buildings before fighters ran forward on foot. Few buildings were unscarred and many appeared ripped open beyond repair.
"Most of the buildings have been destroyed already," said Ahmed al-Zawi, a fighter from Tripoli who had been an oil drilling engineer before the uprising.
"We have to do it as we advance. We don't know where the snipers are." Sirte, the birthplace of Gaddafi and stronghold of his tribe, was showered with money and flourished during his rule, while cities considered disloyal were starved of resources.
Fighters loyal to the interim government have denied the onslaught on Sirte is revenge for earlier crackdowns in other cities by the former regime.
There was unease at the scale of the devastation among those from the city who had joined the rebels though.
"We are paying the price of having been in Gaddafi's favour," said one rebel fighter from the city who declined to be named.
"If we don't stop shelling like this, in three days Sirte will just be a flattened into the desert." Another added tearfully: "If we had known what they would do to our houses, maybe we would have stayed with Gaddafi."
As the front advanced, reporters were shown evidence of the execution of captured revolutionary fighters by retreating loyalists. The several-days-old bodies of 30 males, some just boys, bound and shot, were found across three locations.
Areas of the city which had been liberated were deserted apart from occasional looters.
Meanwhile, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who succeeded Osama bin Laden as leader of al Qaeda, praised Libyan rebels for seizing Tripoli and called on Algerians to overthrow President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
In a 12-minute-long internet video message he called on Libya's new government to adopt Sharia law and warned Libyans not to trust the Nato coalition which has helped oust Col Gaddafi.
Many analysts believe the terrorist network is struggling to reposition itself after being left increasingly irrelevant by the uprisings of the Arab Spring.
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Showing 11 comments
tony_opmoc
9 minutes ago
I found Radiohead in a bin around 1999
I was collecting jumble for the local Methodits Church organised Scout Group - to Pay For The Local Scouts To Go To America
We were all Really Innocent Then.
My 12 year old son Came Back From America in The Year 2000 and said
I have been taught to fire every weapon from a bow and arrow to a machine gun
Americans are Completely Mad and Incredibly Fat, and I NEVER want to go to America again in my life
I have never actually seen Radiohead live, but one of the band is speaking live on The Radio Now
I pulled this cassette tape out of the rubbish and put it on.
It was Labelled
Radiohead THE Bends
So I took up DIVING
It was the best thing I had heard in Years
Tony
beachie
Yesterday 11:55 PM
Keep flogging both sides arm, and let the Muslims keep killing each other, same applies to Syria and Iran next.
Syd Walker
Yesterday 11:53 PM
I read in the Algerian media that Moatassem Kadhafi has just been heard on the radio. I've no idea myself about this particular story - but note the increasing number of times when to get the truth we must refer to media outside the English-speaking world. The Anglosphere's mass media has credibility as low as our spooks these days - which isn't surprising when you think about it... http://www.algeria-isp.com/act...
skywood
Yesterday 11:48 PM
That's interesting, the BBC said it was Bengazi
datbrotherfromthestates
Yesterday 11:28 PM
all I can do is laugh to keep from crying! these are the same AL-QAEDA TERRORIST who just two weeks ago claimed that they had captured mussa ibrahim (gadafi's spokesman) wearing a womens dress and burqua.
these are also the same al-qaeda terrorist who tortured general younis by cutting out his eye,slashing his throat,burning him alive,then riddling his body with bullets and claimed that GADAFFI'S MEN had captured him and killed him.
these are the same al-qaeda terrorist who claimed that they had captured isliam gadaffi and were transporting him to the HAGUE to face the ICC, only recanting after Islam walked into the hotel that was housing foreign journalist raising his own "V" sign! while smiling to the camera's!
congrats obama,you just bought the brooklyn bridge when you backed these terrorist
Syd Walker
Yesterday 11:24 PM
British people should feel deeply ashamed at your nation's unprovoked attack on Libya and its key role in destroying what was previously Africa's most prosperous nation. If you're British, thank God that most of the human species are not as war-crazy and cowardly as Britons (easy to 'win' wars with overwhelming firepower dropped from a safe height; tough to resist like the valiant Libyan people). Don't even think about giving advice to other people about 'democracy' - not until you show the basic ability to regain control of your own nation from war-mongers with a primary interest in the dominance of an entirely different State.
______ cllr_chris
Yesterday 11:57 PM
Syd - unfortunately I do feel deeply ashamed of my country. Years ago I would have said this country was the fairest and most just country in the world. How did we sink so low as to incite wars and bomb innocent men, women and children to smithereens whilst they cower in their homes? I'm so very sorry.
solrac Yesterday 11:20 PM
So after days of skirting around the facts Mr. Farmer finally tells us of the terrible toll that the "rebels" have imposed on the civilians of Sirte and that at least some of the "rebels" are in cahoots with Al Qaeda. This must surely rank as one of NATO's and the Western media's darkest hours
donpatrico
Yesterday 11:17 PM
And when did you last see your father?
lordthanos
Yesterday 11:10 PM
...might help if they got the picture right - that's Hannibal Gaddafi
datbrotherfromthestates
Yesterday 11:30 PM
LMAO at your very truthful comment! but what do you expect from lying AL-QAEDA TERRORIST?
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13102011
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