NALUT, Libya - February 27, 2011 - Several towns in western Libya have been taken by opposition forces, which are now preparing to march on the capital, a member of a revolutionary committee told AFP in the town of Nalut.
An AFP reporter arriving in Nalut, a town of 66,000 people, 235 kilometers (146 miles) west of Tripoli, found that strongman Moammar Qaddafi's loyalist security forces had entirely disappeared from the streets.
"The city has been liberated since February 19. It has been run by a revolutionary committee named by the town's communities," local lawyer and committee member Shaban Abu Sitta told AFP. "The towns of Rhibat, Kabaw, Jado, Rogban, Zentan, Yefren, Kekla, Gherien and Hawamed have also been free for days. In all these towns, Qaddafi's forces have gone and a revolutionary committee put in place," he added.
"We have placed ourselves under the authority of the interim government in Benghazi," he explained, referring to the opposition shadow regime formed by former justice minister Mustafa Abdel Jalil in the east of the country.
"Along with all the free towns on the mountain of Djebel Nafusa and those on the other side of the mountain, we are preparing forces to march on Tripoli and liberate the capital from Kadhafi's yoke," said Abu Sitta.
Ed. Note: I find it journalistically disturbing that this entire story is based on the reported quotes of only one man. How do we know it is true? All current stories about Libya contain the same type of unverifiable or unnamed sources. I question the truth of what is being reported as happening in Libya.
