1 of 7. Anti-Gaddafi fighters celebrate after destroying the residence of Muammar Gaddafi at the Bab al-Aziziyah complex in Tripoli October 16, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Suhaib Salem
BANI WALID, Libya |
(Reuters) - Fighters with Libya's interim government fired their guns into the air and hoisted the country's new flag over the center of Bani Walid on Monday to celebrate their capture of one of the final bastions of Muammar Gaddafi's loyalists.
A Reuters team that drove into Bani Walid, in desert hills 150 km (90 miles) south of Tripoli, saw no signs of resistance from supporters of the deposed leader who have been holed up inside the town for more than six weeks.
"Bani Walid is completely free. It is liberated, 100 percent," said Mohammed Shakonah, a military commander with the National Transitional Council (NTC).
The capture of Bani Walid brings Libya's new rulers a step closer to being in full control of the vast, oil-producing North African country almost two months after rebels entered Tripoli and ended 42 years of one-man Gaddafi rule.
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