TRIPOLI, Oct 15 (AFP) - Armed supporters of ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi have clashed with new government fighters in Tripoli, leaving three dead in the first such battle since the capital fell to anti-Gaddafi forces.
Pro-Gaddafi gunmen on Friday took on fighters loyal to the National Transitional Council (NTC) in Abu Salim, a district around 10 kilometres (six miles) south of the city centre known to harbour supporters of the former Libyan leader.
Tripoli security official Abdelrazaq al-Aradi said that two Gaddafi loyalists and one NTC fighter were killed in the clashes while another 30 people were wounded.
Aradi, vice president of the security committee in the Libyan capital, told a news conference that around 50 armed Gaddafi supporters were behind the violence, 27 of whom, including four “African mercenaries,” were subsequently arrested.
It was the first fighting in the Libyan capital since it fell to anti-Gaddafi forces in August, and comes at a key moment in the eight-month conflict.
The new regime is hoping to proclaim the country's liberation in the coming days, and prepare for the transition to an elected government, when NTC forces capture Gaddafi hometown of Sirte where diehard loyalists are making a determined last stand.
Forces from Libya's new regime launched a fierce assault on two areas of Gaddafi’s hometown on Friday.
At least four people were killed and 46 wounded in Friday's fighting in Sirte, said Abdulsalam Abdelkani, a medic at a field hospital in the east of the city.
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