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    October 17, 2011

Libyan Provisional Fighters Continue Bani Walid Push

   VOA News
   An anti-Gaddafi fighter reads the Koran at a checkpoint north of Bani
   Walid. (file photo)
   Photo: Reuters
   An anti-Gaddafi fighter reads the Koran at a checkpoint north of Bani
   Walid. (file photo)

   Libyan provisional government fighters say they have pushed into the
   city of Bani Walid, one of the last remaining strongholds of loyalists
   of former leader Moammar Gadhafi.
   Officials said Monday the anti-Gadhafi fighters reached the center of
   Bani Walid, a day after launching a new assault on the desert city 170
   kilometers southeast of the capital, Tripoli.
   Provisional authority forces are also trying to secure control of
   Sirte, where pro-Gadhafi fighters are hemmed into a small area of the
   city. National Transitional Council (NTC) officials have said Sirte's
   capture would allow them to declare the country liberated.
   Meanwhile, a Syrian-based pro-Gadhafi television station says the
   former leader's son Khamis was killed in fighting in late August south
   of Tripoli.
   Al-Rai television on Monday said Khamis Gadhafi was killed in the town
   of Tarhuna. NTC officials have previously announced his death there,
   but Gadhafi loyalists had not confirmed the information.

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.