Editorí¢â‚¬â„¢s note: Sinco is a Dumagueteno working with the LA Times. He is the son of Leandro and Mira Sinco and brother of Victor Vicente í¢â‚¬Å“Deaní¢â‚¬ Sinco of Foundation University.
LIBYA– I started the day watching a report on the BBC about an attack by forces loyal to Moammar Kadafi on the town of Port Brega, a strategic center for oil production that had been under the control of Libyan revolutionaries.{{more}}
Times reporter Raja Abdulrahim and I immediately jumped into a taxi and headed west to Port Brega, which is about 125 miles from Benghazi. Weí¢â‚¬â„¢d visited the town just two days before to report a story and take photos about life in the westernmost section of revolutionary territory.
We arrived about 1 p.m. at a large gathering of revolutionaries who were staging a counterattack at the gates of Ajdabya. A line of men about a hundred yards long and three deep were praying. When they finished, many jumped into cars and wove their way through dozens of men lined up on each side of the highway, chanting and waving their arms, flags, and weapons in the air.
Our taxi driver refused to go any farther, and we hitched a ride with a couple of revolutionary volunteers, following close behind the main convoy. We eventually pulled off the highway and took the coast road through the town of Port Brega, where the streets teemed with residents and armed men. All along the coast road, revolutionaries walked or drove toward the sound of heavy gunfire echoing in the distance.
High above, a fighter jet circled before dropping a bomb near the campus of a local university. We saw a large cloud of black smoke rising from the desert floor, and waited about 30 minutes before pushing on. All around us, men armed with AK-47s talked excitedly while pointing their fingers into the distance.
I kept taking pictures and prayed that we wouldní¢â‚¬â„¢t draw fire.
For the next two hours, we alternately hitched more rides or walked before reaching the university, where all was quiet. We let the revolutionaries push about a half mile ahead before catching yet another ride to the far western edge of Port Brega, where several vehicles burned furiously beside the road.
At a nearby checkpoint, elated revolutionaries told us they had repelled the attack, and Kadafií¢â‚¬â„¢s forces were on the run. As more men arrived at the site, an impromptu celebration broke out, with a lot yelling, chanting, and random gunshots fired into the air. It was a crazy and chaotic scene. And it made great pictures.
As the sun started to set, we joined a convoy of revolutionaries giving chase to Kadafií¢â‚¬â„¢s forces, who were beating a hasty retreat west. They were beyond sight, but we followed at high speeds for about another 12 miles. At a small village down the road, the revolutionaries gave up their pursuit, and began yet another victory celebration, with more yelling, chanting, and shooting.
On the trip back, we saw many more celebratory scenes. The revolutionaries clearly were overjoyed at turning back the forces of the hated dictator. Many chanted over and over, í¢â‚¬Å“God is great!í¢â‚¬
As we neared Port Brega, I saw a huge explosion about a mile ahead. Black smoke and dirt filled the air. We turned left to Port Brega and saw a large crater in the middle of the road that we had to take back to the city. We found out that a passing plane had dropped a bomb before continuing its flight westward. It occurred to me that if weí¢â‚¬â„¢d been there just a few minutes earlier, that bomb would have landed right on top of us.
I asked our driver — a baby-faced boy with close-cropped hair í¢â‚¬” if he realized just how close weí¢â‚¬â„¢d come to being blown to bits. He spoke only Arabic, and I tried to emphasize the point by making a small space between my thumb and forefinger. Yes, that close. Unimpressed, he looked at me, pointed skyward, and said: í¢â‚¬Å“God.í¢â‚¬ (LA Times)
