By Libya Herald staff.
12 October 2014:
Zintani units claim to have pushed Libya Dawn forces out of Aziziya today and surrounded Gharian . . .[restrict]in a two-pronged movement.
A senior Zintan military source also said that the town of Al-Gawasim, just north of Gharian had turned against Libya Dawn and were now supporting the “Libya army” (as Zintan forces are now being called by themselves, the government and the Chief of Staff’s office).
Earlier, there were reports earlier from Gharian that it had retaken Al-Rabtaa, captured by the Zintanis yesterday, but the Zintan source denied it.
He said that Zintani troops had today taken the Fourth Forces Camp in Aziziya and that the Ghariani militiamen who had been holding it, led by Adel Daab, had pulled back to their mountain town. Meanwhile, he added, Libya Shield forces and Zawia’s Abu Obeida brigade were currently in Zahra gathering weapons to defend it but, he declared “we are preparing to enter Zahra by tomorrow”.
The fighting between the two sides appears to have been intense today.
According to the Gharian hospital Facebook page, it had received 23 dead and 60 injured, five of them serious. Of the injured, ten had been taken by helicopter to Mitiga and four to Misrata. There are separate reports of the hospital at Mitiga appealing for doctors and blood.
For their part, the Zintanis claim to now hold 37 Libya Dawn prisoners, some of them allegedly as young as 14 and 15 years of age. They also say they are holding the bodies of another 23 members of Libya Dawn. There had been others injured, the Zintani source added, but they had been handed over to the Red Crescent.
As to Zintani casualties, he would not say other than that there had not been many. However, he promised to give the figures tomorrow.
None of the Zintani claims have been confirmed. [/restrict]
