'Pro-Kadhafi' attack kills four in Libya

TRIPOLI (AFP) - Diehards of slain Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi attacked a base in his one-time bastion of Bani Walid killing at least four ex-rebel fighters and wounding 20 others on Monday, a local official told AFP.

"There are at least four martyrs from the thuwar (anti-Kadhafi revolutionaries) and 20 are injured," said Mahmud Warfelli, spokesman of Bani Walid local council.

He said the attack was launched by "a group of remnants of the old regime," calling for outside help against a feared "massacre."

"There are around 100 and 150 men armed with heavy weapons who are attacking. We have asked for the army to intervene, but the defence ministry and NTC (National Transitional Council) have let us down," he said.

"We're out of the frying pan into the fire. We've been warning about this for the past two months," he said.

Another local official, M'barek al-Fotmani, said the assailants had circled the base of former rebels who helped topple Kadhafi last year.

"The compound of thuwar is surrounded on all sides by loyalists of Kadhafi who are attacking it with all kinds of weapons," said Fotmani, a former NTC member for Bani Walid, 170 kilometres (110 miles) southwest of Tripoli.

"The attackers are carrying green flags," symbol of the Kadhafi regime, he said from inside the base.

Fotmani said the base belonged to the May 28 Brigade, a unit of former rebels attached to the defence ministry.

Bani Walid was one of the last pro-Kadhafi bastions to fall in the bloody uprising against the dictator's rule.

The capture of Bani Walid was followed by the fall of the longtime strongman's hometown Sirte in a battle which also led to his killing and marked the "liberation" of Libya.