New intense battle footage from Libya shows an RT crew caught in the midst of heavy fighting between government forces and Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants as the journalists venture to report, risking their lives from the frontline in Sirte.
After a vehicle with RT’s William Whiteman drove past an intersection in one of Sirte’s contested neighborhoods where sounds of gunfire are heard erupting every few seconds, the journalists managed to cheat death in an attempted suicide attack. An armored car rigged with explosives rapidly approaching their positions was spotted by the government fighters.
Before the terrorist was able to trigger a powerful blast, he was annihilated by a RPG fired by one of the government fighters. The remnants of the car engulfed by flames could be seen through a smashed shutter.
“So here you can see the car bomb. This is the car bomb that went off outside. That’s what all the shooting was for. They were trying to stop it,” Whiteman said from a shelter, where he took cover when the shooting started.
The fighting, however, resumed immediately, as a mortar round hit the spot where the journalists were standing earlier. With constant blasts continuing to shake the surroundings, a window frame fell to the ground, hitting several soldiers.
