A press team in the town saw the country’s new flag hoisted on several buildings in a central square where scores of government fighters fired guns into the air in celebration.
In a step toward normalcy, the transitional leadership council confirmed it has signed an agreement with NATO that partially lifts the no-fly zone imposed in March over the country, allowing resumption of some flights without seeking NATO approval.
Anwar Elfeitori, the minister of transportation and communications, said the agreement signed Thursday in Malta would make it easier to transport wounded fighters from the front lines for treatment.
Fighters in Bani Walid, which has proven particularly hard to capture because of its difficult terrain, said they have entered the city center for the first time but still were fighting Qaddafi supporters in surrounding villages
“Now we are controlling more than 90 percent of Bani Walid,” military spokesman Col. Ahmed Bani told reporters in Tripoli. He said revolutionary forces had suffered heavy casualties but refused to give a number. Residents and fighters said that Qaddafi forces retreated in the face of the advance over the past two days.
Moammar Al-Warfali, a doctor in Bani Walid, said fighters loyal to the new transitional government seized the center, a key hospital and several other high buildings used by Qaddafi’s snipers to prevent any advance by the revolutionary fighters. He also said Qaddafi’s son Seif Al-Islam had been seen in the city as recently as last week.
In Sirte, where Qaddafi loyalists have been under siege for weeks, there was little or no sign of the disorganized NTC forces making any progress on Monday and, amid chaos and confusion, in some places they had even been pushed back.
A doctor for the medical aid charity Medecins Sans Frontieres in Sirte has estimated 10,000 people remain trapped in the city of 75,000. Many are women and children, some are sick or injured.
NTC tanks and rockets bombarded a small area of central Sirte where they have boxed in the remaining Qaddafi loyalists. Libya’s new leaders say they will only begin the transition to democracy after they capture the city.
Frustration is growing on the front line. Some fighters are irritated their commanders have not ordered a big push to take the rest of the city.
