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Subscribe to RSSTRIPOLI - Supporters of ousted Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi seized control of the town of Bani Walid on Monday after clashes with a militia loyal to the new government in which four people were killed, witnesses told Reuters.
The violence was bad enough that authorities in Tripoli felt forced to dispatch dozens of revolutionary fighters to Bani Walid, the Guardian reported, quoting brigade commander Saddam Abdel-Zein.
A resident of Bani Walid, about 120 miles south-east of Tripoli, said the sides fought using heavy weaponry, including 106 mm anti-tank weapons, and that 20 people were wounded.
Another witness told Reuters the fighting had now stopped but that Gadhafi loyalists were in control of the town center, where they were flying green flags, a symbol of allegiance to the ousted administration.
"They control the town now. They are roaming the town," said the witness, a fighter with the 28th May militia which was fighting the Gadhafi loyalists.
Bani Walid, base of the powerful Warfallah tribe, was one of the last towns in Libya to surrender to the anti-Gadhafi rebellion last year. Many people there oppose the country's new leadership.
The uprising in Bani Walid could not come at a worse time for the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC). It is already reeling from violent protests in the eastern city of Benghazi and the resignation of its second most senior official.
An air force official told Reuters that jets were being mobilized to fly to Bani Walid. In Tripoli, there were signs of security being tightened, Reuters reporters in the city said.
Fighters "massacred"
The violence in Bani Walid was sparked when members of the May 28 militia arrested some Gadhafi loyalists.
That prompted other supporters of the former leader, who was captured and killed in October, to attack the militia's garrison in the town, said the resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"They massacred men at the doors of the militia headquarters," said the resident.
Libya's interim leaders declare independence from 42 years of rule by Moammar Gadhafi, whose cause of death remains under investigation. NBC's Adrienne Mong reports.
During Libya's nine-month civil war, anti-Gadhafi rebels fought for months to take Bani Walid.
Local tribal elders eventually agreed to let NTC fighters enter the town, but relations have been uneasy since and there have been occasional flare-ups of violence.
In November last year, several people were killed in Bani Walid when a militia group from Tripoli's Souq al-Juma district arrived in the town to try to arrest some local men.
Taking back control of the town will be challenging because it has natural defenses. Anyone approaching from the north has to descend into a deep valley and then climb up the other side, giving defenders an advantage.
It was this landscape, in part, that prevented anti-Gadhafi militias from taking the town during the civil war, despite the fact they were heavily armed and had superior numbers.
Reuters and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.
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Not good.
Then again, we are finally living in a world without Gadhafi in power, and that is very good, indeed.
It will take some time to see what emerges in Libya, but it will be better than Moammar.
What ever happens just let them take care of their own mess. If after all the billions that they have and all the oil and they are not happy than they deserve what happens next, more fighting.
This is a civil war, just like Syria. Let it play itself out. NATO should stay the FO!
the conflict in the middle east country's has been going on between the tribes for a least 1000 years; these country's except Ethiopia and Egypt, were put together by the British to balance power among the different factions; stay the hell out of the middle east.
Hey, you can go and live in Libya now. More likely to be dead. Place is much more dangerous now than under Gadhaffi. At least things were stable under Gadhaffi. Why do you think Gadhaffi stayed in power. What was before Gadhaffi was worse, and it will probably be many years before somebody else is strong enough to fix the country. Read history before making stupid statements.
Sally I totally agree with you as Libya was much better off with Khadaffy and Egypt was much better off with Mubarak and the USA was much better off without Barack Obama.Obama has made thing much worse for the moderate muslims in the middle east and north Africa,Obama by encouraging the ''arab spring'' has led to thousands of deaths and cleared the way for radical Islamists to take control of our longtime ally egypt. Libya thousands dead, thousands of portable surface to air missile looted by extremists,racial genocide against brown skinned immigrants by Libyan rebels,the NTC is rife with al qaeda rebels and supporters, the FAILURE OBAMA needs to lock himself in the white house and keep his mouth shut as he has no idea what he is doing and people are dying due to the ineptness of the Acorn lawyer, ............Obama must go""........
Good for the Gaddafi loyalists.
The supposed "revolution" against him was mostly a plot by the U.S. and especially Europe to get control of Libya's oil and also to make the world safe for "Free-Market" (Rape and Pillage) capitalism.
Gaddafi was certainly no angel but he used a lot of the profits from the oil to better the standard of living for all Libyans.
That's a fact.
Wikipedia:
After coming to power, the RCC [Gaddafi] government initiated a process of directing funds toward providing education, health care and housing for all. The reforms, though not entirely effective, had their effect. Public education in the country is free and primary education is compulsory for both boys and girls. Medical care is also available to the public at no cost but providing housing for all is a task the RCC government has not been able to complete yet.[2] Under Gaddafi, per capita income in the country rose to more than US $11,000, the fifth highest in Africa.[3] The increase in prosperity was accompanied by a controversial foreign policy, with increased political repression at home.[1][4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Libya_under_Muammar_Gaddafi
Free health care and education!
No wonder the people who own and run the U.S. hated him.
ArchStanton; you're a wee bit kooky.
I though we heard the end about Gadhafi and his loyalists. What possibly could these people expect to do against the new government ? Some people never learn ..
I'm sure they could do plenty without NATO's bombs falling on them.
To Raymond: There is no new government in place yet. There is a bunch of rebels fighting each other for power.
The new "government" is fractured among its own factions. The fractures among groups along religious, ethnic, and tribal lines are what allowed Ghaddafi to come to power in the first place.
It's just like Iraq with the Sunnis & Shia. When one group comes in and starts terrorizing the other (for revenge usually) then the group rebels. In Iraq there is much more of an imbalance of power between groups and the weaker Sunnis know it, so with outside pressure things are somewhat losely stable.
In Libya some of the weaker groups joined together to take out the more powerful with massive UN help. I would not be surprised to see a full scale civil war in a year or two. With UN support now gone Ghadaffi's tribe and supporting tribes may even regain power in their region and Libya become divided.
This country will be a mess for a long time.
You don't understand. Gadhaffi represented one side. It was not a civil war between Gadhaffi and the rebels, it was one group of people against another. Now the rebels have won, they are doing the same thing, if not worse than Gadhaffi was doing. A ruler cannot stay in power without support. The rebels are doing their best to alienate the people that were Gadhaffi supporters. Just look at Iraq. The Sunni's are being discriminated against, so they will continue to fight. The US has made a mess wherever they go. We have been taking bad situations and making them worse. In Iraq the people in power have connections with Iran, whereas Sunnis did not like Iran. What a mess.
I was talking to an Algeria immigrant several days after the death of Ghadaffi. He told me that it ain't even got started yet (the civil war), but it was coming. He said, "Ghaddaffi's tribe would vow revenge for what happened to Ghaddaffi and the country."
Just make sure the oil keeps flowing and both sides can kill each other until there's no one left for all i care.
Oil does not flow well in the middle of a war zone.
That's the reason we re-established contact with Ghaddafi again - oil, and that's the reason we snuffed out the Bahrain revolution a while back - oil.
So what are the US Troops doing in Brega, Libya today? ... and why is MSNBC not reporting on this?
Maybe because obama told them not too.
Maybe because obama told them not too.
Beginning scenario:
Again, NO troops on the ground:
Now, here is where the Administration stands (note: links can be used by MSNBC to develop their news article):
It would be a good bet that Mr. Obama will NOT say anything about this "minor" International POLICY involvement in his State of the Union speech.
Told them not TO.
And Obama got the peace prize. What a put down on those that got the prize and deserved it.
Because no one cares now that Ghaddafi is history.
What is this 1600 in which you put your flag up at the city center and it yours ?
the conflict is the old, conservatives, who want things to remain the same against the new, progressives who want change. Obviously a lot of people like the Gadhafi system, enough to adopt it even though the guy is dead.
Since the very first castle was built, designers and strategists always said that well defended fortresses all have the same weakness.....you have a limited time to defeat the attackers because in order to keep the enemy out, you must also keep out fresh food, water and other supplies.
Maybe Tripoli should close the roads in and out and just wait it out.
gee no surprise there! every single one of these arab spring uprising countries WILL fall into civil war. EVERY ONE... nothing will change,,, there will never be ANY type of real democracy or real freedom in any of those middle east countries, ever. it is so pathetic. and the body count continues.
hey god? any god if you are up there you can come back anytime now this world is ready..
@Cuba, That's true! And the worst part is they will all be anti-American. Islamists anti-American governments. Yes, this happens all the time with those third world mentalities. The @!$%#ts want to control and the Sushis want to control too.
There was once an American Spring and a lot of naysayers said it couldn't and shouldn't be done.
Couldn't see that one coming.... Ha! Good grief. Put a moat around the whole region over there and give them all boxing gloves.... no weapons allowed. Last man standing decides the fate of their country.
They have a new word for "Gadhafi Fighters" now...
Fighters.
How can they be "Gadaffy" fighters when Gadaffy is DEAD?!?! They need a new "leader" to immortalize.....
Did he not have like 50 sons? Maybe it's his daughter. One of them spoke up during the original fight.
I think one of his sons was arrested and his daughter left the country. Not sure, though.
Are Hillary & half-and-half going to support the insurgents?
evidently,they all want to be sodomized just like their dear departed leader
The European members of NATO (along with the Obama administration) intervened in Libya's revolution because they were afraid that a Ghaddaffi victory would result in thousands of refugees from Lybia landing on their shores seeking asylum. Now that they've pulled out it seems the rebel factions, along with remnants of the Ghaddaffi regime have all started fighting each other. Ironically, the looming violence and disorder may now create the same problem that Europe was trying to avoid in the first place.
i hope for the best for lybia,universal health care,affordable university,and no national debt.
That was what they had before Obama brought them Hopey Changey.
long live GADHAFI!!!
What in the world are they doing? They want Ghadaffi back in power, like that's gonna happen!
Reading stuff like this just makes me feel like we wasted tax money.....kinda like hearing about suicide bombings in Iraq.
....while Obama revolutionary fighters continue to loot the country and kill off any opposition.
How about for just once the foxbots think of who is really f'n the country up? Lobbyist and oil speculators, not to leave out lawyers, and short sighted bankers. Just so you know the housing bubble is nothing new, back in the 80's they pulled the same @!$%# with farmers. What comes around, goes around.
Who cares.
All Muslim countries are already a "bottomless pit." What's new?
Unless these people can find a way to bring Gadhafi's corpse back to life, they are fighting a loosing battle. Better to fight for a share of the countries oil wealth, before some foreign bankers come and expropriate all the oil revenues.
Lol It ain't even got started yet (the civil war) LOL!!!
This is at least the 5th instance of in-fighting in Libya in the last month. And, from what I can tell, from at least 3 different groups. Civil War is not coming ... it has arrived!
Libya is divided by 4 main tribes and many Sects. All are jockying for power. The strongest will eventually win. So, you have the "winner" imposing it's will on the other people. End result - a "new" dictator, or militant-theocracy.
This must really be up-setting to Barack Hussein Obama and his Big Oil, Wall Street friends. FYI - BHO has rcieved more election camaign funds from Wall Street, than all th eother candidates combined! In fact, Obama has raised a total of $15.6 million from employees in the finance sector as of the end of December. Nearly $12 million of that went to the DNC.
I wonder when China will arm the OWS crowd, so that we can overthrow our dictator and they can give us the communist government that we have always wanted.
Libya should be for the Libyan people and we should stay out of thier business. Not saying Quaddafi was a good leader, but we have started a civil war that may takes years and many libyan lives to resolve.....