Gaddafi's men are cleaning up Zawiya, the town they have finally taken after bombarding it for a week. They have brought in road sweepers to brush away the evidence of the worst fighting between Libyans in a century. It is certainly the worst devastation I've seen in any town centre.
Mix a huge IRA bomb with a tank battle and add the aftermath of an artillery barrage, and you get some idea of the damage to the centre of this town of 250,000 people. At least it used to be home to that number. When I arrived, the first journalist to enter after the fighting ended, the streets were almost deserted for half a mile in every direction beyond the main square. The only people were bands of Gaddafi's men, high on victory and bent on revenge, searching buildings for any sign of the rebels who had held them at bay for a week. A resident told us by phone two days ago that there wasn't an animal in the street or a bird in the air above Zawiya. She was right.
Dozens were killed in the battle for Martyrs' Square. There are now many more "martyrs" buried there. I counted more than 20 new graves. Clean-up crews swept furiously, trying to make the square look normal.
