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The U.N. nuclear agency is including two senior weapons experts on its next mission to Tehran in an unusually clear statement on the team’s prime focus _ wresting information from Iranian officials about suspicions the country has secretly worked on atomic arms.
Iran has flatly refused to discuss such allegations for more than three years, saying they were based on phony intelligence from the U.S. and others seeking to harm the Islamic Republic.
But diplomats on Friday told The Associated Press that the weapons experts were part of the U.N team and that Iran had accepted their inclusion after some initial resistance. That suggested that the Islamic Republic was being more conciliatory on the issue of secret weapons work than usual as the International Atomic Energy Agency mission prepares to fly from Vienna to Tehran Saturday.
All six diplomats interviewed said Tehran had not committed to discussing the issue. But three of them added that Iranian officials indicated openness to talking about all topics during the IAEA mission that ends early next week _ a departure from standard reluctance by Tehran to exclude give-and-take on the arms allegations.
None of the diplomats expressed confidence of a breakthrough. But the Iranian stance at least allows the mission to have some home of making a dent into Iran’s wall of silence about its alleged clandestine nuclear weapons work.
Any progress on the issue would be significant.
Tehran has blocked IAEA attempts for more than three years to follow up on U.S. and other intelligence alleging covert Iranian work on nuclear arms, dismissing the charges as baseless and insisting all its nuclear activities were peaceful and under IAEA purview.
Faced with Iranian stonewalling, the IAEA summarized its body of information in November, in a 13-page document drawing on 1,000 pages of intelligence. It stated then for the first time that some of the alleged experiments can have no other purpose than developing nuclear weapons.
Iran continues to deny the charges and no change in its position is expected during the Tehran talks with IAEA officials. But even a decision to enter a discussion over the allegations would be a major departure from outright refusal to talk about them.
The diplomats said that the IAEA team was looking for permission to talk to key Iranian scientists suspected of weapons work, inspect documents relating to such suspected work and get commitments for future visits to sites linked to such allegations.
As most often the case, the IAEA team is headed by Herman Nackaerts, the chief agency official in charge of the Iran file _ but the makeup of the rest of the team reflects the importance attached by the agency to the trip.
Two diplomats said Friday that nuclear weapons experts Jack Baute of France and Neville Whiting of Britain would accompany Nackaerts.
While both fulfill IAEA functions not directly related to nuclear arms research, they were connected to their nation’s weapons programs before they came to the agency.
One of the diplomats _ who is familiar with the thinking that went into setting up the mission _ said their inclusion was meant to send a clear signal to the Iranians. He, like the five other diplomats, asked for anonymity in exchange for discussing privileged information,
Also on the team is Rafael Grossi, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano’s right hand _ another indication of the importance the agency has attached to the trip.
The three-day visit comes as anxiety grows daily about Iran’s nuclear capacities _ and what it plans to do with them.
Since the discovery in 2002 that Iran was secretly working on uranium enrichment, the nation has expanded that operation to the point where it has thousands of centrifuges churning out enriched material _ the potential source of both nuclear fuel and fissile warhead material.
Iran says it is enriching only to generate energy. But it has also started producing uranium at a higher level than its main stockpile _ a move that would jump start the creation of highly enriched, weapons grade uranium, should it chose to go that route. And it is moving its higher-enriched operation into an underground bunker that it says is safe from attack.
Israel in particular is concerned by Iran’s expanding enrichment capacities _ and increasing evidence of secret nuclear weapons work.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Friday the world must quickly stop Iran from reaching the point where even a “surgical” military strike could not block it from obtaining nuclear weapons.
Amid fears that Israel is nearing a decision to attack Iran’s nuclear program, Barak said tougher international sanctions are needed against Tehran’s oil and banks so that “we all will know early enough whether the Iranians are ready to give up their nuclear weapons program.”
The United Nations has imposed four rounds of sanctions against Iran, but veto-wielding Russia and China say they see no need for additional punitive measures. That has left the U.S. and the European Union to try to pressure other countries to follow their lead and impose even tougher sanctions.
“We are determined to prevent Iran from turning nuclear,” Barak told reporters during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.
“It seems to us to be urgent, because the Iranians are deliberately drifting into what we call an immunity zone where practically no surgical operation could block them,” he said, alluding to increased Iranian efforts to move their enrichment work deep underground.
Separately at Davos, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon urged a resumption of dialogue between Western powers and Iran on the nuclear issue. He said Friday that Tehran must comply with Security Council resolutions and prove conclusively that its nuclear program is not directed at making arms.
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George Jahn can be reached at http://twitter.com/georgejahn
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Rescue crews say a rescue operation on a cruise ship that ran aground and capsized off Tuscany has been suspended after the Costa Concordia shifted a few inches (centimeters) in rough seas.
Fears are mounting that if the ship shifts significantly, the 500,000 gallons of fuel may begin to leak into the pristine waters around the island of Giglio.
Fire department spokesman Luca Cari said the ship had shifted a few centimeters vertically and horizontally Monday because of the seas. He said an underwater search for 16 people still unaccounted for from the 4,200 on board was suspended immediately.
Six people were killed when the ship ran aground Friday. Costa has said the captain, who has been jailed, made an unauthorized deviation from the ship’s planned course.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
ROME (AP) _ The captain of the cruise ship that capsized off Tuscany made an unauthorized, unapproved deviation from its programmed course, a “human error” that led to the grounding of the vessel, the chief executive of the ship’s Italian owner said Monday. At least six people died in the incident.
The comments from Costa Crociere chairman and CEO Pier Luigi Foschi ramped up the pressure on the captain, who already is under investigation by authorities for suspected manslaughter and as well as allegations he abandoned ship before the passengers were safe, violating the Italian navigation code.
The Costa Concordia ran into a reef Friday night and capsized into the port area of Giglio, sparking a frantic evacuation of the 4,200 people onboard. Coast Guard officials have expressed concern that the ship might slip off the rocks where it is currently perched.
On Monday, the rescue operation was called off as weather worsened and a sixth body was found. Foschi said it wasn’t because the ship had shifted but because divers heard “sounds” coming from inside and didn’t know what was causing them. Sixteen people remain missing Payday Loan for Bad Credit.
Foschi said the company, which is owned by the world’s largest cruiseline, Carnival Corp., stood by the captain, Francesco Schettino, and would provide him with legal assistance. But he said the company disassociated itself from his behavior.
Costa ships have their routes programmed, and alarms go off when they deviate, the chief executive said in a press conference.
“This route was put in correctly. The fact that it left from this course is due solely to a maneuver by the commander that was unapproved, unauthorized and unknown to Costa,” he said.
Schettino has insisted he didn’t leave the liner early, telling Mediaset television that he had done everything he could to save lives.
“We were the last ones to leave the ship,” he said.
Foschi said the liner had passed all safety and technical tests in its 2011 evaluation. He added that the company’s main concern was the safety and well-being of the passengers and crew, as well as to ensure fuel doesn’t leak out from the upended hull into the pristine waters off the island of Giglio.
There were 500,000 gallons of fuel on board, in 17 separate tanks, Foschi said.
“There are no signs of pollution” to date, but officials are on high alert in case the ship suddenly shifts due to worsening weather conditions, Foschi said. Sensors have been put in place to track the movements of the ship.
Questions have been swirling about why the ship had navigated so close to the dangerous reefs and rocks that jut off Giglio’s eastern coast, amid suspicions the captain may have ventured too close while carrying out a maneuver to entertain tourists on the island.
Residents of Giglio said they had never seen the Costa come so close to the dangerous “Le Scole” reef area.
Egypt’s ruling military and the revolutionaries who demand they immediately step down battled for a third day in the streets on Sunday _ and competed fiercely for the support of a broader public that has grown tired of turmoil since the fall of Hosni Mubarak 10 months ago.
The generals appear to be winning the fight for the public, despite a heavy-handed crackdown on protesters around Cairo’s Tahrir Square using a roughness that rivals even that of Mubarak’s widely hated police force.
The protesters have tried to drum up Egyptians’ anger at the military by spreading videos and photos of military police savagely beating young men and women to the ground with sticks and truncheons _ and the resonant scene of a woman in a conservative headscarf being stripped half naked by soldiers who stomp on her chest.
But so far their efforts to win public sympathy don’t seem to be gaining traction in the face of the military’s campaign to depict the crowds of hundreds in the streets as hooligans and vandals, not the idealistic activists who succeeded in bringing down Mubarak. At least 10 protesters have been killed and 441 others wounded in the three days of violence, according to the Health Ministry.
“The military has failed in everything except for its stunning success in making people hate the revolution, its history and its revolutionaries,” prominent columnist Ibrahim Eissa wrote in an editorial in the independent pro-revolution newspaper, Al-Tahrir.
Led by a general who served for 20 years as Mubarak’s defense minister, the military has been methodically seeking to discredit the revolutionaries, accusing them of illegally receiving foreign funds and being part of a plot hatched abroad to destabilize Egypt. The generals have in the meantime sought to portray themselves as key players in the 18-day revolt that toppled Mubarak’s 29-year rule and hence have earned the right to rule.
In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the ruling military council on Sunday called the clashes part of a “conspiracy” against Egypt. It said its forces had the right to defend the “property of the great people of Egypt.”
Seeking to depict the protesters as hooligans _ and apparently to counter the widely published images of protesters being beaten or dragged on the ground _ it also posted on the page footage of young men throwing rocks at a basement window of the parliament building and of at least one man trying to set the place ablaze.
The generals’ campaign plays on Egyptians’ frustration with continued instability and economic woes since Mubarak’s fall. Many are now more focused on the multistage parliamentary elections that began last month and continue through March. Islamist parties have so far overwhelmingly dominated the vote, with liberals and secular parties far behind.
That trend continued with the announcement Sunday of results from the second of three rounds of voting, held last week. Out of around 160 seats up for grabs in the second round, the Muslim Brotherhood won 29 and another more conservative Islamic party, Al-Nour, won 23. Two liberal groups _ the Wafd Party and the Egyptian Bloc _ won nine and seven seats, respectively. The rest will be determined in a run-off vote to be held later this week.
The Islamists have been staying clear of the recent violence, fearing that they could jeopardize their electoral gains by taking part in the protests. Their stance has prompted many activists to accuse them of political opportunism.
The military has meanwhile been using the state media and sympathetic private TV stations to market an image of itself as the protector of the nation, filling its statements with patriotic rhetoric and grave warnings if turmoil persists.
The revolutionaries who led the protests against Mubarak accuse the military of mismanaging the transition since then, of seeking to hold on to power and of using the same autocratic ways as the ousted leader. They demand that the military hand over power to civilians immediately _ and some have begun demanding that presidential elections scheduled for the middle of next year be moved up to January to pick a civilian head of state to take the generals’ place.
“The military is looking down at us and handling everything from a security perspective,” said Shady el-Ghazali Harb, a prominent activist and an icon of the anti-Mubarak uprising. “It is trying to make the point that its way of handling things is what will be applied and nothing else.”
The latest deadly clashes began Friday, when one of several hundred peaceful protesters staging a sit-in outside the Cabinet offices near parliament was detained and beaten by troops. The protesters began their sit-in three weeks ago to demand that the military immediately step down.
In Sunday’s clashes, protesters and troops battled on two main streets off Tahrir Square, trading volleys of stones and firebombs around barriers that the military set up to block the two central avenues. The army also used water canons.
One of the streets is site of a research center set up during the three-year occupation of Egypt by France in the late 18th century. The building was almost completely gutted by a fire which broke out during the height of the clashes on Saturday, when troops on its roof and on other nearby rooftops hurled rocks down on protesters below.
Protesters, who blame the fire on the troops, have been trying to salvage valuable books and documents from the center, whose two-story building is now in danger of collapsing after its roof caved in.
Activists have flooded social network sites and sympathetic media with photos and video from the troops’ brutal assaults the past two days.
The photo of the woman protester half-stripped by soldiers ran on the front page of the Al-Tahrir newspaper, emblazoned with a headline in red, “Liars,” referring to repeated denials by the military council and military-appointed Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri that no force or live ammunition were used against the protesters.
The presenter of a political talk show on a private TV station sarcastically praised the soldiers for their bravery in wrestling the woman down.
“She is more of a man than 300,000 men put together, including me,” said Youssef al-Hussein on ONTV.
Other widely circulating footage show an army officer firing a pistol at protesters _ though it is not clear whether he was using live ammunition _ and soldiers dragging women by the hair and ferociously beating, kicking and stomping on protesters cowering on the ground.
Still, many Egyptians complain the revolutionaries have gone too far and that, almost a year after ousting Mubarak, they should now go home and let the military run the country or wait for the next parliament to decide the country’s future.
Such sentiments are not surprising given that the military has been the most powerful institution in Egypt since army officers seized power in a 1952 coup that toppled the monarchy.
Nearly 60 years later, the military continues to have the last word on policies, a position of power that has left many activists not entirely certain that the generals who succeeded Mubarak would voluntarily return to their barracks.
“The military council uses every opportunity to show itself as the land’s strongest institution,” said Mohammed Abbas, an activist who defected from the Muslim Brotherhood to side with youth groups more active in protests. “We are making it easier for the generals by our divisions and isolation.”
Stocks rallied Wednesday on hopes that a deal to save the euro would be agreed at a summit of European leaders at the end of the week.
Investors are betting EU leaders will agree on Friday a strategy that will allow the 17 countries that use the euro to link up their economies more closely. The tighter budget rules, proposed by the leaders of Germany and France, could then allow the European Central Bank to play a bigger role in solving the crisis by buying up the bonds of the most-imperiled countries.
“The market is becoming optimistic that the ECB will aggressively step up its action as both a reward for political action or in reaction to the threat of recession,” said Jane Foley, an analyst at Rabobank International.
Ahead of Friday’s meeting, the ECB is expected to cut interest rates on Thursday, possibly by as much as half a percentage point. If it did sanction such a big move, then the rate would fall to 0.75 percent and below the 1 percent that had previously been considered the floor.
Lower interest rates would help the eurozone economy, which has been sliding back toward recession under the weight of the debt crisis that threatens to spread from the relatively small economies such as Greece to much-bigger Italy and Spain.
Concerns that this could happen have eased this week. That was most evident in the performance of Italian and Spanish bond prices. Both have recovered this week, sending their yields _ the interest rates the countries would pay to borrow on markets _ down to more manageable rates. The yield on Italy’s ten-year bond was at 5.75 percent on Wednesday, way down from the 7 percent level it had traded at in recent weeks.
In Europe, Germany’s DAX rose 0.4 percent to 6,051 while the CAC-40 in France rose 1 percent to 3,212 paperless payday loans. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was 0.4 percent higher at 5,593.
Wall Street was poised for a solid opening too _ Dow futures were up 0.5 percent at 12,176 while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 futures rose 0.6 percent to 1,262.
The euro was trading flat on the day at $1.3400.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Wednesday he is very encouraged with the progress Europe is making in coming up with a plan to shore up the euro in the wake of a crippling debt crisis. Geithner’s comments to reporters followed a meeting with French Finance Minister Francois Baroin on the second day of his whirlwind trip through Europe.
“A more upbeat tone from Geithner in his support for Europe’s efforts to unify fiscal policy across the eurozone has been well received by investors,” said Jordan Lambert, a trader at Spreadex.
Earlier in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.7 percent to end at 8,722.17 _ its highest close in a month. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.9 percent to 1,919.42 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.6 percent to 19,240.58.
Mainland Chinese shares edged higher, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index climbing 0.3 percent to 2,332.73, ending a five-session losing streak.
Oil prices meanwhile edged higher alongside stocks _ benchmark crude for January delivery was up 51 cents to $101.79 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.
Greece’s embattled prime minister and main opposition leader agreed Sunday to form an interim government to ensure the country’s new European debt deal, capping a week of political turmoil that saw Greece face a catastrophic default that threatened its euro membership and roiled international markets.
As part of the deal, Prime Minister George Papandreou agreed to step down halfway through his four-year term. He and conservative opposition head Antonis Samaras are to meet Monday to discuss who will become prime minister and the makeup of the Cabinet.
The new unity government’s main task will be to pass the European rescue package, reached after marathon negotiations between European leaders barely a week ago _ a move considered crucial to shoring up the euro. The interim government will then lead the country into early elections, expected early next year.
Officials had been anxious to reach some form of agreement before a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels on Monday.
“Of course it’s a breakthrough,” government spokesman Elias Mossialos said. “It is a historical day for Greece, we will have a coalition government very soon, early next week. The prime minister and the leader of the opposition will discuss tomorrow the name of the new prime minister and the names of ministers.”
Papandreou sparked the latest crisis by announcing last week that he was taking the hard-fought debt agreement to a referendum. That outraged European leaders, who said such a vote could raise the specter of Athens leaving the common currency _ setting off an unpredictable chain reaction that could drag down other European countries.
They also warned a vote would jeopardize the disbursement of a vital $11 billion (euro8 billion) installment of Greece’s existing $152 billion (euro110 billion) bailout, which the country desperately needs to avoid the potential of a catastrophic default within weeks.
In the ensuing market turmoil, Italy _ which also faces severe financial difficulties, but is considered too big to bail out _ saw its borrowing costs spiral, sparking fears it could be dragged into the fray.
Papandreou withdrew the referendum plan Thursday in the wake of European anger and after it sparked a rebellion among his own Socialist lawmakers, many of whom called for him to resign. The turmoil also pushed the conservative opposition party to publicly declare it would back the debt agreement.
Any interim government that is formed with the support of both major parties will be almost guaranteed to push the European rescue package through parliament, even if it has to be approved by a reinforced majority of 180 of the legislature’s 300 lawmakers.
The new European deal would give Greece an additional $179 billion (euro130 billion) in rescue loans and bank support. It would also see banks and private investors write off 50 percent of their Greek debt holdings, worth some $138 billion (euro100 billion). The goal is to reduce Greece’s debts to the point where the country is able to handle its finances without relying on constant bailouts.
Greece’s lawmakers must now approve the package, putting intense pressure on the country’s leaders to swiftly end the political crisis so parliament can convene and put it to a vote.
A planned meeting with the leaders of all political parties in parliament, which was to take place Monday evening, was canceled after two leftist parties refused to attend, the president’s office said.
Sunday’s agreement came after a late-night meeting between Papandreou and Samaras called by President Karolos Papoulias at Papandreou’s request to end a two-day deadlock. Direct talks had failed to get off the ground because Papandreou had said an agreement had to be reached on a new government before he stepped aside, while Samaras insisted Papandrepou resign before the start of negotiations and demanded quick elections.
An opposition conservative party official said Samaras’ New Democracy party was “absolutely satisfied” with the outcome of the talks and that party officials were to hold meetings late Sunday night with Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos and his advisers to discuss how long it would take to finalize the new debt deal and when elections could be held.
“Our two targets, for Mr. Papandreou to resign and for elections to be held, have been met,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the process.
The Finance Ministry said a late-night meeting between Venizelos and opposition party members determined the “most suitable” date for elections was Feb. 19.
Two turbulent years after coming to power in a landslide election victory, Papandreou has seen his popularity plummet as his government has been forced to severely cut spending while hiking taxes to tackle a runaway deficit and debt that led Greece to become the first eurozone country to seek an international bailout.
Ireland and Portugal have since followed suit, but European leaders have been desperate to ensure other countries with larger economies are not also dragged down.
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Associated Press writer Nicholas Paphitis in Athens contributed to this report.
U.S. homebuilders are a less pessimistic about the struggling housing market, but not enough to signal a recovery any time soon.
The National Association of Home Builders said Tuesday that its index of builder sentiment this month rose from 14 to 18. The index has been below 20 for all but one month during the past two years.
Any reading below 50 indicates negative sentiment about the housing market. It hasn’t reached 50 since April 2006, the peak of the housing boom.
Last year, the number of people who bought new homes fell to its lowest level dating back nearly a half-century. Sales this year haven’t fared much better.
Builders are struggling to compete with foreclosures, which have made the price of previously occupied homes more competitive. Many buyers are having difficulty obtaining loans or meeting higher down payment requirements. Low appraisals are scuttling some deals after contracts have been signed. Some buyers want to upgrade to a new house but are holding off because they can’t sell their home.
David Crowe, the builders group’s chief economist, said some builders are shifting their assessment from “poor” to “fair,” but few are changing their views from “fair” to “good.”
While new homes make up a small portion of sales, they have an outsize impact on the economy. The builders’ trade group says each new home built creates an average of three jobs for a year and generates about $90,000 in taxes.
Separate gauges of current single-family home sales and foot traffic of prospective buyers increased four and three points each, to 18 and 14, respectively. A survey of sales expectations over the next six months rose seven points, to 24.
An index of builders’ outlook in the West rose nine points, to 21. The Midwest and South rose 4 points, to 15 and 19, respectively. The Northeast was unchanged at 15.
Libyan revolutionary forces bulldozed the green walls surrounding Moammar Gadhafi’s main Tripoli compound on Sunday, saying it was time “to tear down this symbol of tyranny.”
The sprawling, fortress-like compound known as Bab al-Aziziya has long been hated by Libyans who feared to even walk nearby during Gadhafi’s more than four decades in power and its capture was seen as a turning point in the civil war as revolutionaries overran the capital in late August.
Ahmad Ghargory, commander of a revolutionary brigade, said the area will be turned into a public park accessible to all Libyans.
“It’s the revolutionary decision to tear down this symbol of tyranny,” Ghargory said. “We were busy with the war, but now we have the space to do this.”
Already, the courtyard in front of Gadhafi’s former house, which he used for many fiery speeches trying to rally supporters during the uprising, has been turned into a weekly pet market. Tripoli residents roam the premises as if at a museum, with vendors selling revolutionary flags and other souvenirs.
Libyans are eager to move on after decades of repression, even though fighting persists on two fronts and tensions between supporters of the former regime and revolutionary forces remain high _ even in Tripoli. The continued instability has delayed efforts by the transitional leadership to move forward with efforts to hold elections and establish democracy.
The Bab al-Aziziya compound, surrounded by high walls lined with barbed wire, had been a mystery to most Libyans though it is one of the city’s largest landmarks. Many Tripoli residents said they wouldn’t go near it, fearing security guards on the compound’s high green walls would get suspicious and arrest or shoot them.
“I cannot explain these feelings,” Farouk Alzeni, 25, said, standing against a backdrop of piles of rubble. “I have never touched this wall because of this place’s heavy security.”
The compound was a main target for NATO airstrikes during the months leading to Gadhafi’s ouster in late August.
Fighters forced their way into the area on Aug. 23 during the battle for the capital, jubilantly rampaging through the remnants of barracks, personal living quarters and offices seen as the most defining symbol of Gadhafi’s nearly 42-year rule.
Gadhafi’s residence, now gutted and covered with graffiti, was also targeted in a U.S. bombing raid in April 1986, after Washington held Libya responsible for a blast at a Berlin disco that killed two U.S. servicemen. A sculpture of a clenched fist crushing a U.S. fighter jet that had been erected after the strike has been removed.
Gadhafi entertained guests in a Bedouin-style tent pitched near two tennis courts about 200 yards (meters) from the family home.
“All the bad things that happened, happened inside these walls credit reports free. And he kept his mercenaries and tortured people inside these walls,” said Tarek Saleh, a 25-year-old revolutionary. “Before we were never able to enter this site, and we’re tearing these walls down so we don’t have to remember those dark days.”
Revolutionary forces have squeezed Gadhafi loyalists into one main district in his hometown of Sirte after weeks of fighting, but some said fears of friendly fire as well as a lack of coordination and communications were slowing their advance. Fighters from the eastern city of Benghazi and Misrata to the west were trying to reorganize themselves to solve that problem.
“We have them cornered in a 900 by 700 meter area, but the fighting is difficult because we are worried about firing on our own forces, they are mixed together,” Benghazi field commander Khaled al-Magrabi said Sunday.
Commanders said they have agreed to divide the remaining loyalist area between them to prevent confusion.
Libyan fighters also faced discord over the looting of buildings, including the airport and houses in Sirte, on the coast 250 miles (400 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli. Trucks were seen carting off tractors, industrial generators and heavy machinery on the road from Sirte to nearby Misrata, which was under siege by Gadhafi forces for months and saw some of the fiercest fighting of the war.
Associated Press reporters also saw trucks carrying equipment from Sirte’s airport, including red-carpeted mobile staircases, baggage carts, airplane towing vehicles and security screening equipment, all apparently meant for Misrata’s badly damaged airport.
Smaller pickups were loaded with rugs, freezers, refrigerators, furniture and other household goods, apparently taken by civilians and fighters to be used in their homes or resold.
The looting was an indication that reconciliation and unity may be difficult to achieve in post-Gadhafi Libya.
Commanders tried to rein in looting by ordering fighters to refrain from entering private homes and to detain anybody not authorized to be in the area. Benghazi fighters arrested three men for looting on Saturday.
Revolutionary forces also distributed fliers at checkpoints leading into the city that read, “Dear Muslims, avoid God’s wrath. Do not steal from people’s homes, their cars, or take their personal possessions.”
Fighting also raged in the desert enclave of Bani Walid, 90 miles (140 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli.
An official with revolutionary forces there, Abdullah Kenshil, said they captured the airport in Bani Walid on Sunday, but further advance was stalled by heavy shelling from Gadhafi’s forces elsewhere.
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