Surt

In the modern pantheon of the world's dictators, Moammar Kadafi stood apart. Far apart. Erratic and mercurial, he fancied himself a political philosopher, practiced an unorthodox and deadly diplomacy, and cut a sometimes cartoonish figure in flowing robes and dark sunglasses, surrounded by heavily armed female bodyguards. He ruled Libya with an iron fist for 42 years, bestowing on himself an array of titles, including "king of culture," "king of kings of Africa" and, simply, "leader of the revolution.

TRIPOLI, Libya - Libyans vote for a national assembly Saturday amid sharpening ethnic and tribal tension threatening the nation's transition from Moammar Kadafi's repressive rule to the newest democracy to emerge from the Arab Spring. This North African country, rich in oil and scarred by Kadafi's legacy, is at once a cause for hope and a dangerous tinderbox. Heavily armed militias hold sway in many towns. Talk of secession echoes through the east. Islamists are angling for a political voice and tribal leaders from the Sahara desert to the Mediterranean coast have only a cursory notion of how to build a civil state.

Forces of Libya's transitional government pounded holdout positions of Moammar Kadafi loyalists in the ousted leader's hometown of Surt on Friday, and fighting flared up in the capital for the first time in nearly two months. In the coastal city of Surt, the attackers said the last remaining pro-Kadafi troops were trapped in a few neighborhoods and that it was just a matter of time before they were overwhelmed. The fight for Surt has dragged on for almost a month after the government that ended Kadafi's reign predicted it would be over in a few days.

Libya's new leaders declared their nation "liberated" on Sunday, paving the way for elections and a constitution that the revolutionary government says will put the country on a path to its first representative democracy. The long-awaited pronouncement came with a heavy dose of Islamist sentiment, as Mustafa Abdul Jalil, leader of the transitional government, embraced the Muslim code known as Sharia law as a foundation for future legislation. During his more than four decades in power, Moammar Kadafi viewed Islamists as a threat and jailed hundreds of suspected religious militants.

Troops allied with Libya's transitional government launched an "all-out" assault Thursday on Moammar Kadafi's birthplace, Surt, reaching the coastal city's outskirts on several fronts, government spokesmen said. It was the largest military operation since Tripoli fell last month to rebel forces, forcing Kadafi, his family and loyalist officials to flee. Troops advanced on four fronts from the west and south, said Jalal Gallal, a spokesman for the transitional administration, who called the offensive "an all-out attack.

As fighters loyal to Libya's revolutionary government gain on the holdout city of Surt, residents are making it clear that the battle for hearts and minds is far from won. The scrublands that surround Moammar Kadafi's hometown have become a confused patchwork of loyalties. As vehicles of the revolutionary forces patrolled the dusty villages in newly seized territory Sunday, many residents peered angrily from their homes. "The rebels are worse than rats. NATO is the same as Osama bin Laden," said a father, his seven children crowding around him. Surt has been a primary target in the seven-month NATO bombing campaign that helped rebel forces gain control of most of Libya.

Fighters loyal to Moammar Kadafi engaged in a last-ditch battle Thursday from a single pocket of resistance in the former Libyan leader's besieged hometown. Tanks manned by fighters allied with the transitional government fired relentlessly at pro-Kadafi forces pinned in a compact residential district of Surt close to the Mediterranean coast, sending dust and concrete into the air. Anti-Kadafi fighters with rifles moved into firing position, crunching over spent ammunition cartridges that littered the central garden plaza.

Heavy fighting was reported Saturday in the battle for Moammar Kadafi's hometown, while a military spokesman for Libya's new government conceded that it has no idea where the former leader is hiding. Fighters allied with the new government pushed farther into Surt, along Libya's central Mediterranean coast, but again met stiff resistance from well-armed loyalists ensconced in the pro-Kadafi bastion. The military command in nearby Misurata said that at least 24 of its fighters had been killed in Surt and at least 54 wounded, with many injured by loyalist mortar rounds or Grad missiles.

An emaciated patient lay unconscious in the abandoned intensive care unit. The heart monitor beside the bed beeped loudly, ringing out across an empty ward damaged by a bomb blast. Outside the battle continued to rage. Libya's transitional government seeking to finally seize control of Moammar Kadafi's hometown captured — at least temporarily — the central hospital in the loyalist city on Sunday. Inside the Ibn Sina Hospital, they found scenes of destruction and human despair.

The remains of more than two dozen men lay facedown in the dirt, their hands bound behind them. Plastic cuffs cut into the flesh of their wrists; bullet holes riddled their blood-spattered backs. According to fighters for Libya's transitional government who say they found the corpses last week, the men were recent victims of supporters of ousted Libyan strongman Moammar Kadafi. The fighters say all were executed by loyalist forces in a paroxysm of revenge and fury as former rebels advanced into the crumbling Kadafi stronghold of Surt.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday the U.S. will maintain a strong military interest in the young Iraqi democracy even after the last combat troops leave this year, and she warned Iran not to try and take advantage of the pullout. During a tour of the Sunday morning talk shows, Clinton said that no one, especially Iran, should underestimate America's commitment to preserve the hard-fought gains of the last eight years. "We have a lot of presence in that region," Clinton said in an interview with CNN's Candy Crowley.

With the capture and death of Moammar Kadafi, NATO's aerial assault on Libya essentially ended the same way it began: with warplanes raining down bombs on him in the name of a U.N. mandate to protect civilians from his loyalists, while helping Kadafi's enemies run him to ground. Throughout the seven-month operation, the alliance in essence served as the anti-Kadafi fighters' air force, crippling the strongman's forces and installations with relentless sorties that at times came close to killing him as well.

The images were gruesome. In one grainy video clip, a figure in a blood-soaked shirt who looks like Moammar Kadafi is manhandled behind a truck by frenzied fighters shouting, "God is great!" The man stumbles and appears to struggle against his captors. In another clip, a shirtless body lies on the ground. Fighters roll it over to show what appears to be Kadafi's bloodied face to cheering fighters. Photos: Moammar Kadafi | 1942 - 2011 The amateur videos that flashed across television screens and were uploaded to YouTube on Thursday suggest that Kadafi was alive when he was captured after fighters loyal to Libya's provisional government overwhelmed the former strongman's hometown of Surt.

Sen. John McCain, one of the most ardent supporters in Washington of the Libyan resistance, released a statement on the reported death of Col.Moammar Kadafi, calling for the United States to “deepen” its support for the strife-torn nation. Revolutionary forces stormed the Mediterranean coastal city of Surt on Thursday, with reports saying that Kadafi had been captured and wounded in the fighting. Some of the reports said he had died. McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, traveled to Benghazi, a rebel stronghold, in the midst of the fighting in April.

In the modern pantheon of the world's dictators, Moammar Kadafi stood apart. Far apart. Erratic and mercurial, he fancied himself a political philosopher, practiced an unorthodox and deadly diplomacy, and cut a sometimes cartoonish figure in flowing robes and dark sunglasses, surrounded by heavily armed female bodyguards. He ruled Libya with an iron fist for 42 years, bestowing on himself an array of titles, including "king of culture," "king of kings of Africa" and, simply, "leader of the revolution.

The remains of more than two dozen men lay facedown in the dirt, their hands bound behind them. Plastic cuffs cut into the flesh of their wrists; bullet holes riddled their blood-spattered backs. According to fighters for Libya's transitional government who say they found the corpses last week, the men were recent victims of supporters of ousted Libyan strongman Moammar Kadafi. The fighters say all were executed by loyalist forces in a paroxysm of revenge and fury as former rebels advanced into the crumbling Kadafi stronghold of Surt.

Their hometown of Misurata has largely been reduced to rubble, but the fighters say they haven't come to Moammar Kadafi's birthplace to wreak havoc. They say the several thousand troops fighting under the flag of Libya's revolutionary regime, most of them from Misurata, seek control of Surt, one of three major bastions still loyal to the ousted longtime ruler. "This is about Kadafi and Libya, not about the people of Surt," Mohammed Enhaisi, 27, a tractor driver from Misurata turned field commander, said Tuesday at a heavily guarded intersection about two miles from downtown Surt.

Forces of Libya's provisional government launched a renewed assault Saturday on Moammar Kadafi's hometown, meeting fierce sniper, mortar and rocket fire from the bastion of support for the ousted leader. Attackers reached a key intersection near the center of the coastal city of Surt by sunset, but were slowed by resistance from pro-Kadafi forces, reported the pan-Arab satellite network Al Jazeera. Television video showed tanks firing and explosions going off in the city as fighters crouched behind vehicles and buildings for cover along the streets of Surt, which has been under siege for more than a week.

Forces of Libya's transitional government pounded holdout positions of Moammar Kadafi loyalists in the ousted leader's hometown of Surt on Friday, and fighting flared up in the capital for the first time in nearly two months. In the coastal city of Surt, the attackers said the last remaining pro-Kadafi troops were trapped in a few neighborhoods and that it was just a matter of time before they were overwhelmed. The fight for Surt has dragged on for almost a month after the government that ended Kadafi's reign predicted it would be over in a few days.

Fighters loyal to Moammar Kadafi engaged in a last-ditch battle Thursday from a single pocket of resistance in the former Libyan leader's besieged hometown. Tanks manned by fighters allied with the transitional government fired relentlessly at pro-Kadafi forces pinned in a compact residential district of Surt close to the Mediterranean coast, sending dust and concrete into the air. Anti-Kadafi fighters with rifles moved into firing position, crunching over spent ammunition cartridges that littered the central garden plaza.