Revolutionaries hold front line village

Libyan revolutionary fighters were digging in to this village south of Tripoli today after losing it then taking it back in a see-saw battle that exposed the military frailties of National Liberation Army(NLA).
NLA fighters took the village, a staging post on the way to the capital about 100 km north, a week ago, then they lost it to government troops yesterday morning, and by nightfall they were back in control.
This morning there were scores of NLA fighters manning defensive positions throughout Al-Qawalish, and they were supported by trucks with heavy machine guns mounted on the back.
That was in contrast to the light defences in place yesterday morning when Muammar Gaddafi’s forces quickly overran the village.
“We came yesterday and we stayed here and we said we are not moving until the place is secure,” said one revolutionary fighter who was manning a machine gun and gave his name as Tommy. “This mistake is not going to happen again. We’re not going home.”
Revolutionaries said Gaddafi forces, who were now positioned a short distance to the east, had shelled the village overnight but stopped after dawn. A NATO aircraft could be heard overhead.
Control of Al-Qawalish is strategically important because it allows the revolutionaries to come down from their mountain stronghold and move towards the town of Garyan, which controls access to the main highway leading north to Tripoli.

MISTAKES
Mohammed al- Bujdidi a local NLA commander, said there were now many more fighters in Al-Qawalish to stop Gaddafi forces counter-attacking again.
“We do acknowledge that we made mistakes. Some of the Gaddafi forces were able to sneak past us with the support of collaborators,” he said.
There were still signs of yesterday evening’s battle for control. Outside the village’s eastern edge, the corpses of two young Gaddafi soldiers lay in the road.
Revolutionary fighters also said they had taken prisoner two government officers who, they said, were mercenaries from Mali.
The machine gunner, Tommy, said that when the revolutionaries fought their way back into Al-Qawalish they found the bodies of three of their comrades who, he said, had been executed by Gaddafi forces.
He said one of the dead men had been shot at short range with a large-calibre machine gun. “You could not even recognise his face,” he said.