Gaddafi's luxury hotel first used by rebels

The luxurious seaside hotel built in Muammar Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte has re-opened, even though its walls are pockmarked, there are blood stains on the marble staircases and the glass windows are riddled with bullet holes.

According to an article published by News24, the hotel, with is luxurious villas, indoor swimming pool and Jacuzzis has opened for the first time since it was built, despite the damage caused by rebel forces.

The Sirte Hotel was built by Gaddafi so that he could host world leaders and state guests in resplendent luxury, but the hotel was never used by these people. Instead it was the rag-tag army of civilians, fighting to take control of the coastal city from Gaddafi's loyalists who were the first to enter the hotel and spend a night there.

The projected cost per night at the Sirte Hotel was between 500 and 600 dinars a night. The rooms all have flat-screen television sets, marble floors and mahogany wardrobes.

Members of the National Transitional Council have mounted heavy machine guns in the windows and fire these intermittently at the loyalists as the come into view. Then they take cover behind mattresses and tables as snipers return the fire. An empty Jacuzzi on the balcony is used to store ammunition.

Read the full article on www.news24.com.
Read the full article on www.reuters.com.