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    September 24, 2011

Libya's NTC Battles for Control of Sirte

   VOA News
   Anti-Gaddafi fighters stand guard after they took over El-Khamseen
   gate, the eastern gate of Sirte, Libya, September 24, 2011.
   Photo: Reuters
   Anti-Gaddafi fighters stand guard after they took over El-Khamseen
   gate, the eastern gate of Sirte, Libya, September 24, 2011.

   Heavy artillery fire rocked the Libyan town of Sirte Saturday as
   provisional government fighters battled former leader Moammar Gadhafi's
   loyalists.
   National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters pushed into the town's
   center earlier this week, but have been facing stiff resistance from
   snipers and other pro-Gadhafi forces.
   The provisional fighters are also trying to gain the upper hand in Bani
   Walid, a desert town that is among the few remaining strongholds for
   Gadhafi's supporters.
   Meanwhile, NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil says an interim government
   will be announced in the coming week. He commented Saturday in
   Benghazi, where the NTC has been meeting to discuss the new
   government's formation.
   Jalil said membership in the provisional government is a right
   guaranteed to all Libyans. He noted that two seats would be reserved
   for representatives from Sirte, the hometown of Gadhafi.
   Earlier, an NTC spokesman said the government would include 22
   ministers and a deputy prime minister.
   Gadhafi's whereabouts remain unknown. On Friday, his daughter, Aisha
   Gadhafi, released an audio recording in which she says her father was
   in high spirits and fighting alongside his supporters.
   The message was aired by Syria-based Arrai television. Aisha Gadhafi
   called the country's new leaders "traitors" because some of them had
   been part of the Gadhafi government.
   Aisha, her mother and two brothers fled to Algeria in August as NTC
   fighters swept into Tripoli.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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