Rebels surge along coastal road, sights set on dictator's stronghold

Heading west: Libyan rebels on the way from Bin Jawad to Gaddafi's home town of Sirte. Allied air strikes have enabled them to take control of the coastal oil towns

In a helter-skelter procession of pick-up trucks and battered cars laden with machinegun-touting fighters, the Libyan revolution pushed west today.

In the previous 24 hours this rag-tag army has captured hundreds of miles of territory, its forces streaming out of Ajdabiya and into the key oil towns of Brega and Ras Lanuf and on to the desert outposts of Bin Jawad.

With dawn came reports that rebel fighters had even gained control of Sirte, the birthplace of Colonel Gaddafi. The city is located on the road leading to Tripoli and many have considered it one of the regime's strongholds and least likely to fall.

If correct, and the provincial council of Benghazi was proclaiming it as fact, it would be a stunning moment in this rebellion, meaning the rebel army can race on towards Misrata and ultimately Tripoli - which almost certainly means Gaddafi's rule is now entering its final phase.

The fighters on the desert road told how the news of Sirte's fall was received with ecstatic delight. The gunfire and tracer bullets filling the sky was deafening as vehicles stopped for those on board to embrace and started chanting their praise to God and Libya.

The Standard travelled with a group of six vehicles calling itself the "Victory or Death Brigade". At its centre was a pick-up truck with an anti-aircraft gun soldered to its back, taken when Ajdabiya fell over the weekend. It had been painted green then - a hated colour in rebel Libya because of its association with Gadaffi. Spray paint had been found and now it was bright gold.

"Nothing can stop us now," said the vehicle's driver, Hamed Salem, 41, a pair of motorcycle goggles hanging around his neck and canvas webbing pouches bulging with ammunition strapped to his belt. "Praise be to Libya! Praise be to God!"

And, it must be said, the coalition bombing campaign -for without it none of the rebels' recent advances would be possible. Its impact is evident all along this road that hugs the coast. Every two miles lies the twisted, blackened wreckage of another tank, armoured personnel carrier, or pick-up truck. Units of the rebel army race past them with the red, black and green of the liberation flag streaming.

Such has been the impact of the bombing that Brega, Ras Lanuf and Bin Jawad were taken without a shot being fired. Gaddafi's forces simply fled, the piles of uniform they left behind indicating many changed into civilian clothes and melted into the surrounding population.

The situation in Sirte is unclear. The previous night there was news of fighting on the outskirts but the reports, relayed on mobile phones to the fighters, yet to reach the front, indicated it had been less fierce than in Ajdabiya, the Gaddafi forces now reduced to small arms, their heavy weapons exhausted or destroyed.

In the Ajdabiya district of Wajid many houses were pockmarked by shell fire and bullet holes. Among those killed in the crossfire were at least six children. Dr Tanfik al-Gandose described how he had treated an eight-year-old with severe head injuries. "There was no electricity," he said. "No medicines left. I could do nothing to save him."

In a corner of the town's cemetery lie the remains of 30 pro-Gaddafi soldiers, dumped there after being killed in the air strikes. They were placed in a mass grave. There were no headstones, the earth simply dumped on top and crudely flattened.

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