Libyan forces seize Sirte landmarks as battle for city nears end

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Source: The Guardian

Libyan forces loyal to the interim council appear to have taken key sites across the besieged city of Sirte, the last major stronghold of pro-Gaddafi forces.

Among the buildings captured on Sunday were the vast Ouagadougou Convention Centre, where loyalist fighters have held up attackers for weeks and the Ibn Sina hospital on the south side of Sirte.

By mid-morning, the sprawling conference centre had been abandoned by its defenders. Inside the five-hectare complex which has been the centre of the coastal town's defences, revolutionary fighters posed in halls scattered with debris and drove around in electric golf buggies and other vehicles they found inside.

Shattered plate-glass windows and pockmarked walls revealed the intensity of the past week's fighting. Some of the buildings had been blasted open by shell fire, and spent shell cases were scattered across the ground.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/09/libyan-forces-seize-sirte-landmarks