RAS LANUF, Libya - Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi attacked rebels on Sunday in Bin Jawad, a town between rebel-held Ras Lanuf and Gaddaffi's home town of Sirte on which the rebels had set their sights. One fighter, returning wounded from the frontline town, said the Gaddafi loyalists had attacked with machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). Asked what he had seen, he replied: "Death." Distraught, he would not say any more. Other rebel fighters in Ras Lanuf said they had received news of the attack by telephone from the frontline. "People tell us in Bin Jawad there are Gaddafi forces. Some rebels have been hit by snipers," Khamis al-Libi, a rebel fighter, said. "They have RPGs, and machineguns," added Mansour Mayloud, another fighter. "There's been an attack on Bin Jawad." It was not immediately clear if this was a concerted assault or a hit-and-run attack on the rebels. The government said on Sunday it had driven the rebels, who took over eastern Libya over a week ago, all the way back to their eastern stronghold of Benghazi. But the rebels were still clearly in control of Benghazi and the key oil complex of Ras Lanuf, which they took on Friday night. "They're all rebels here," a witness in Ras Lanuf said. A warplane struck Ras Lanuf on Sunday but no one was hurt. One rebel commander said his forces had pushed west from Bin Jawad and controlled the town of al-Nawfaliyah, 120 km (74 miles) from Sirte, where they would await a call from citizens in Sirte before advancing. "It's not difficult to take Sirte," Colonel Bashir Abdul Gadir told Reuters. "I think 70 percent of regular people are with us there, but they have asked us not to go into Sirte fearing heavy battles. We're going to wait till they call us to let us know when they are ready." The colonel, speaking earlier in Ras Lanuf, told a news conference there were about 8,000 rebel soldiers between Ras Lanuf and al Nawfaliyah and Gaddafi's forces were reinforcing the Libyan leader's hometown of Sirte, further west down the coast, from the south. "We have our brothers in Sirte and they won't accept this situation. They know he is a killer and stole our money and they are going to be with us," Abdul Gadir said, denying the latest Libyan government statements that it controls Ras Lanuf. "We have a lot of people in Sirte and they are ready to join with us," he said, adding: "We brought down a jet in Ras Lanuf and a helicopter in Nawfaliyah." On the rebel force, Abdul Gadir said: "We are not an organised army. We don't use military tactics. Our tactics are revolutionary. We don't take into account death as they do." He said: "This is the nature of the people's revolution. you can't control it, only 10 percent of us are professional soldiers. That's it." In Libya's eastern second city of Benghazi, where the uprising began, Colonel Lamine Abdelwahab, a member of the military council, for the Benghazi area, said: "We have received contact from members of the Gaddafda tribe (Gaddafi's tribe) in Sirte who want to negotiate ... There will be no negotiations. They are asking us what we want. We say we don't want Gaddafi (in power)." Abdelwahab said soldiers belonging to the Ferjan tribes were executed for refusing to fight rebels. "They (the Ferjan tribe in Sirte) are joining the rebellion because of this atrocity. The problem is that they are unarmed. Only the Gaddafda were armed by the regime." Gaddafi may have more than 20,000 fighters in Sirte, he said, adding that the city houses the Saadi (son of Gaddafi) battalion which includes four brigades, in addition to his armed tribe members. He said the commander of the battalion, consisting of about 90 per cent Gaddafda, is Abdellah Massaoud, a cousin of Gaddafi. Abdelwahab said he believed the appointment of Omar Hariri as head of the revolutionary armed forces would improve their coordination. "Yes, because he is a well known personality and very popular as he tried to overthrow Gaddafi." Abdelwahab said plans were afoot to court martial Gaddafi and Abdallah Senussi, domestic intelligence chief, for war crimes. "We are talking about court martialling them and people of the Omar Fadil battalion (Benghazi) for using light and medium weapons against unarmed demonstrators and using anti-aircraft artillery against them, which is a violation of international human rights," he said.
