Libyan Rebels Pursue Qaddafi Loyalists Believed to Be Hiding in Beni Walid

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Source: Bloomberg

Libyan rebel units are closing on the town of Beni Walid, 100 miles south west of Misrata, where they believe senior figures from the Muammar Qaddafi regime may be hiding after fleeing Tripoli, said rebel fighters in the city.

Rebel fighter Salah Eslen said his Hasm, or ‘It is over,’ brigade, recently returned from fighting in Tripoli and is preparing to join columns advancing across the desert to the small town to see if Qaddafi loyalists have made it a base.

“We just go forward,” said Eslen, a former steel worker who operates a 106mm anti-tank gun mounted on a battered black pickup truck. “No back, no reverse gear.”

The push had added urgency because of the failure to find Qaddafi, and the belief among opposition forces that if he is found, alive or dead, the battles still raging south and west of Misrata will stop, he said.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-27/libyan-rebels-pursue-qaddafi-loyalists-believed-to-be-hiding-in-beni-walid.html