Gaddafi Forces Stage Fierce Counter-Offensive as Libyan Rebels Regroup

A Libyan Rebel (R) fires the weapon mounted on his vehicle during clashes with pro-Gaddafi armed men in the city of Bani Walid, southeast of Tripoli, Libya, 17 September 2011. EPA/BGNES

Libyan rebel forces' intention to regroup after Friday's fighting at Bani Walid, one of the last remaining bastions of dictator Muammar Gaddafi, has been interrupted abruptly by a fierce counter-attack from the loyalists.

Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi have fired rockets and scored casualties in their fierce counter-attack in the fugitive ex-Libyan leader's stronghold of Bani Walid, 180 km southeast of Tripoli, Al Jazeera reported.

Ambulances rushed dead and wounded fighters as explosions and gunfire thundered in the air, after the attack on a position of fighters from the rebels' Transitional National Council several kilometers from the city center.

"They swept the position after targeting us with Grad rockets," a rebel fighter is quoted as saying, as Gaddafi loyalists continued their counter-offensive in Bani Walid.

The Gaddafi forces launched their vigorous counter-offensive Saturday night, just as the rebel forces intended to sit the day out in order to regroup.

"Today is for consolidation and lessons learned from yesterday," an Al Jazeera correspondent said, after speaking with a senior rebel commander.

According to the report, the fighting at Bani Walid has "ultimately achieved little more than getting people killed and demonstrating the strength of pro-Gaddafi forces".

Reportedly, Gaddafi has at least three brigades dug in deep at Bani Walid, laying traps for the rebel fighters. As a result, the rebel command insists on taking things slowly, asking for more time to co-ordinate, to re-deploy and to organize.

International media reports, however, have indicated that rebel fighters in Bani Walid have received orders to retreat. Unconfirmed reports said the retreat by the rebels was to prepare the ground for NATO forces to strike the area.

Meanwhile, Gaddafi`s spokesman Moussa Ibrahim was prompt in praising the setback their forces had inflicted on the rebels.

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