Red Cross brings supplies to Gaddafi’s hometown
Aid workers from the Swiss-run International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have managed to bring supplies into Sirte, the hometown of ousted Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi.
Soldiers loyal to the National Transitional Council (NTC) allowed an ICRC truck to enter the besieged town on Saturday. Civilians have been trapped there as the battle for the 100,000-person town rages on between pro- and anti-Gaddafi forces.
The four ICRC workers delivered medical kits to treat the 200 people wounded during the fighting, a spokesman in Geneva told the Reuters news agency.
They also brought fuel for the hospital’s generator. However, they were not able to enter the wards and visit the patients. The spokesman added that his team had noticed damage to the hospital’s water tower.
NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil said his forces had called a two-day truce on Friday so that civilians could flee.
Fighters in Sirte told Reuters that that Nato planes had dropped notes urging civilians to flee the area.
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