General Facts About United Flight 93

This web site was created to explain in detail what really happened to United Flight 93 on 9-11-01. Some people prone to conspiracies say that the government shot down the plane, while others claim no such flight even existed.
In order to find out the truth, I will examine the evidence like a detective trying to solve a murder case. I will first examine the reports of eyewitnesses, then examine photos of the crash site, and other evidence. We will also look at some of the questions that people have about the flight and the crash that has led to several conspiracy theories.

Eyewitnesses

Here are parts of several articles giving details and eyewitness accounts:

A few miles north of Lambertsville, yard man Terry Butler, 40, was toiling away at Stoystown Auto Wreckers.
He thought it was odd that a plane was in the area. He'd heard that all air traffic nationwide had been halted after the World Trade Center disaster about an hour earlier.
"It dropped out of the clouds," too low for a commercial flight, Butler said. The plane rose slightly, trying to gain altitude, then "it just went flip to the right and then straight down."
He radioed back to his office, telling coworkers Homer Barron, 49, and Jeff Phillips, 30, what he had seen.
"I told them a plane crashed. At first they didn't believe it, because you know, we do joke around." Then Barron saw smoke and called 911.
… Barron and Phillips drove to the crash scene and found a smoky hole in the ground. A few firefighters had already begun pouring water onto the debris.
"It didn't look like a plane crash because there was nothing that looked like a plane," Barron said.
"There was one part of a seat burning up there," Phillips said. "That was something you could recognize."
"I never seen anything like it," Barron said. "Just like a big pile of charcoal."
Lee Purbaugh, 32, working just his second day at Rollock Inc., a scrap yard next to the reclaimed strip-mine land, looked up from operating a burning torch to see the jetliner just 40 feet above him. "I couldn't believe this," Purbaugh said.
"I heard it for 10 or 15 seconds and it sounded like it was going full bore," said Tim Lensbouer, 35, Purbaugh's coworker.
The ground shook and the air thundered as the jetliner slammed into the ground about 300 yards away, Purbaugh said.
A mushroom of flame rose 200 feet and disappeared. Then there was a curtain of black smoke and finally a trail of fire as pieces of the fuselage shot hundreds of yards into the woods.
"My instinct was to run toward it, to try to help" said Nina Lensbouer, Tim's Lensbouer's wife and a former volunteer firefighter. "But I got there and there was nothing, nothing there but charcoal. Instantly, it was charcoal."
…
Charles Sturtz, 53, who lives just over the hillside from the crash site, said a fireball 200 feet high shot up over the hill. He got to the crash scene even before the firefighters.
"The biggest pieces you could find were probably four feet [long]. Most of the pieces you could put into a shopping bag, and there were clothes hanging from the trees."
Ten miles away, at a warehouse near Berlin, employee Don Miller and co-workers felt their building shake. (7)
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"It came in low over the trees and started wobbling," said Tim Thornsberg, a resident of Somerset County, who was working near an old strip mine when he saw the plane.
"Then it just rolled over and was flying upside down for a few seconds ... and then it kind of stalled and did a nose dive over the trees. It was just unreal to see something like that."
…
Charles Sturtz, who lives about a half-mile from the crash site, said he saw the plane in the air for a few seconds, and saw no smoke, heard no explosions before the crash and saw no other planes in the sky.
The plane was heading southeast he said, and had its engines running. "It was really roaring, you know. Like it was trying to go someplace, I guess, " the 53-year-old carpenter said. (6)
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One eyewitness to the Pennsylvania crash, Linda Shepley, told television station KDKA in Pittsburgh that she heard a loud bang and saw the plane bank to the side before crashing. … (3)
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Kelly Leverknight was watching news of the attacks on New York and Washington when she heard the plane.
It sounded like it was flying low above her home in rural Pennsylvania, moving from west to east. It was an odd enough sound that she stepped outside to have a look.
"I heard the plane going over and I went out the front door and I saw the plane going down," said Leverknight, 36. "It was headed toward the school, which panicked me, because all three of my kids were there.
"Then you heard the explosion and felt the blast and saw the fire and smoke." Leverknight and dozens of her neighbors raced to the Shanksville-Stonycreek School where they found their children safe.
…
Witnesses said they thought the wings of the Boeing 757 were wagging from side to side as it plunged toward the earth. …
"When it decided to drop, it dropped all of a sudden, like a stone," said Tom Fritz, 63. Fritz was sitting on his porch on Lambertsville Road, about a quarter mile from the crash site, when he heard a sound that "wasn't quite right" and looked up in the sky.
"It was sort of whistling," he said. "It was going so fast that you couldn't even make out what color it was."
…
Terry Butler works at Stoystown Auto Wreckers, which is in the flight path of the doomed plane. Butler was pulling a radiator from a 1992 Dodge Caravan when he heard the plane's engines.
He was listening to the news and was surprised because he had heard that all flights nationwide were grounded, and he didn't think there were supposed to be any planes in the air at the time. He looked up and behind him saw the plane come out of the clouds, low to the ground.
"It was moving like you wouldn't believe. Next thing I knew it makes a heck of a sharp, right-hand turn." He said the plane banked to the right and appeared to be trying to climb to clear one of the ridges, but it continued to turn to the right and then veered behind a ridge, "like somebody grabbed the wheel."
He said the plane disappeared behind a tree line on a ridge. "I knew it was going to crash," Butler said. About a second after it disappeared, he heard the boom and saw the smoke rise above the trees. "It was eerie." (8)
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"It shook the whole station," said Bruce Grine, owner of an auto service center in Shanksville, about 3 miles from the crash site. "Everybody ran outside, and by that time the fire whistle was blowing." (3)
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Eric Peterson of Lambertsville looked up when he heard the plane. "It was low enough, I thought you could probably count the rivets," Peterson said. "You could see more of the roof of the plane than you could the belly. It was on its side."
"There was a great explosion and you could see the flames. It was a massive, massive explosion. Flames and then smoke and then a massive, massive mushroom cloud."
Peterson called 9-1-1 and ran to the crash site but found only burning jet parts, pieces of clothing, and seat cushions.
….
Rose Goodwin, a freshman at Shanksville Stony Creek High School, was watching the television news in class when Flight 93 went down.
"We felt it. We thought something must have landed on the roof," she said. "It was like, Oh my gosh, what was that?' We looked out the window and saw a black cloud. Everyone started screaming."
Viola Saylor of Lambertsville was outside talking to her sister.
"We didn't hear that plane coming until it was right on top of us," she said. "Then there was a roar."
She said the plane appeared to be gliding into the ground.
"All at once it just stopped. There was no engine noise, nothing. Someone hollered, Oh my God!' and then there was a real loud thud." (11)
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Michael R. Merringer was out on a mountain bike ride with his wife, Amy, about two miles away from the crash site.
"I heard the engine gun two different times and then I heard a loud bang and the windows of the houses all around rattled," Merringer said. "I looked up and I saw the smoke coming up."
The couple rushed home and drove near the scene. "Everything was on fire and there was trees knocked down and there was a big hole in the ground," he said. … (10)
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For Lee Purbaugh, 31, of Listie, the thought of seeing a plane crash right before his eyes still seemed unbelievable to him when interviewed a half-hour later.
“I never in my life thought I would see a plane crash right before my very eyes,” said Purbaugh, who was at the wreckage within minutes after the crash.
Purbaugh’s second day on the job at Rollock Inc., a scrap metal company which owns the Diamond T mine, a former PBS Coals dig directly above the crash site, came with a shocking surprise. The crash happened within 200 yards of Purbaugh’s view.
“I happened to hear this noise and looked up,” said Purbaugh, who indicated the plane was about 40 to 50 feet above him. “I didn’t know if I should duck or what because this plane was so low but then in a split second it hit.”
Purbaugh describes the crash as “just like a big mushroom cloud.” He says when it hit, it “shook the ground, rolled over in some way and then collapsed.” … (12)
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A witness said he heard two loud bangs before watching the plane take a downward turn of nearly 90 degrees. … Many witnesses said that their homes were shaking violently as the plane flew low overhead. A witness told WTAE-TV's Paul Van Osdol that she saw the plane overhead. It made a high-pitched, screeching sound. The plane then made a sharp, 90-degree downward turn and crashed. (9)
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The plane seemed to be fully, or largely, intact. "I didn't see no smoke, nothing," said Nevin Lambert, an elderly farmer who witnessed the crash from his side yard less than a half-mile away.
Lambert also said he also later found a couple of pieces of debris, one a piece of metal, less than 12 inches across, with some insulation attached. … (15)
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Then a call came in from one of Madigan’s troopers: He had just heard an explosion so violent it shook his home. Soon phones at the barracks were ringing off the hook. Madigan and other troopers rushed to the scene, …
Rick King, 42, of Shanksville, was behind the wheel of the first fire truck to arrive at the crash scene, …
The former assistant chief of the Shanksville volunteer fire department had heard Flight 93 scream overhead, seen a massive fireball light up the sky and felt an explosion rock the entire town of Shanksville. …
But besides a burning landing-gear tire, smoldering branches in the nearby woods and a few brush fires, there was little to indicate a jetliner had just crashed, he says. “Where is this plane? And where are the people?” he remembers thinking as he stepped off the truck. (16)
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Minutes later, the plane crashed in rural Somerset County, about 20 miles away.
"It was like an atomic bomb hit," said John Walsh, 72, who heard the crash and drove to the site while still in his bathrobe. "When I got there, the plane was obliterated. You couldn't see the cockpit or the wings or nothing." (20)
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Witnesses said they thought the wings of the Boeing 757 were wagging from side to side as it plunged toward the earth. (19)
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Larry Williams, a former state police trooper who is now a private investigator, was golfing on the 17th green at Oakbrook Golf Course about eight miles away when he heard the engines "roar real loud and shut off." …
Blair, of Stoystown, a driver with Jim Barron Trucking of Somerset, was traveling in a coal truck along with Doug Miller of Somerset, when they saw the plane spiraling to the ground and then explode on the outskirts of Lambertsville.
"I saw the plane flying upside down overhead and crash into the nearby trees. My buddy, Doug, and I grabbed our fire extinguishers and ran to the scene," said Blair.
"I saw the mushroom cloud and we called 911 right away," added Blair. "I knew with that crash that it wasn't likely there were survivors, but we had to go anyways. The plane was coming in on a slant and really hit the treeline at an angle."
“[Lucy] Menear, who lives across from the Lambertsville Road at the intersection where a graveled road leads to the crash site near the strip mine, said, "I felt the ground shake with the impact. I didn't know the plane had crashed. It was just a big jolt."
Laura Temyer of Hooversville …."I didn't see the plane but I heard the plane's engine. Then I heard a loud thump that echoed off the hills and then I heard the plane's engine. I heard two more loud thumps and didn't hear the plane's engine anymore after that."....
Kim Custer, 15, a tenth grader at Shanksville Stonycreek High School, said she was on the second floor of the school, located only a few miles from the crash site, when the plane went down.
"I looked up and saw the ceiling tiles jump up and down, then I felt the whole building shake," she said. "Then we heard a big boom, …. (14)
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Ok, we have a pretty good picture of the last few minutes of United Flight 93, as viewed from the ground. It descended quickly, was traveling very fast and low, banked hard to the right, flipped over completely, and nosedived straight into the ground. On impact there was a huge fireball that rose up about 200 feet followed by a mushroom cloud. Afterwards, there were only small pieces of the plane and its contents to be found anywhere.
About the loud bang noises, some people said the engines were very loud, others that the engines did not sound right, some that they made a loud bang, and some said it made no sound. Either some people were farther away than others, or the plane’s engines were cutting off and on, which was probably what caused the loud bangs. If you recall, there were witnesses who said the plane's engines were making the loud bang noise just before they cut off; or perhaps off and on with a bang. Look at the bold type in the last quote above.

united 93 Crash

The plane crashed into a reclaimed coal strip mine in Stonycreek Township at 10:03:11.^[61] The National Transportation Safety Board reported that the flight impacted at 563 miles per hour (906 km/h) at a 40 degree nose-down, inverted attitude.^[19] The impact left a crater eight to ten feet deep (c. 3 m), and 30 to 50 feet wide (c. 12 m).^[62] All 44 people died.^[63] Many media reports and eyewitness accounts cited the time of the crash at 10:06 or 10:10,^[64][65] as did an analysis of seismographic data in the area^[66] but which the 9/11 Commission report states was not definitive.^[67] Other media venues and the 9/11 Commission reported the time of impact as 10:03,^[68][69] based on when the flight recorders stopped, analysis of radar data, infrared satellite data, and air traffic control transmissions.^[23]
Kelly Leverknight was watching news of the attacks when she heard the plane. "I heard the plane going over and I went out the front door and I saw the plane going down. It was headed toward the school, which panicked me, because all three of my kids were there. Then you heard the explosion and felt the blast and saw the fire and smoke."^[70] Another witness, Eric Peterson, looked up when he heard the plane, "It was low enough, I thought you could probably count the rivets. You could see more of the roof of the plane than you could the belly. It was on its side. There was a great explosion and you could see the flames. It was a massive, massive explosion. Flames and then smoke and then a massive, massive mushroom cloud."^[71] Val McClatchey had been watching footage of the attacks when she heard the plane. She saw it briefly, then heard the impact. The crash knocked out the electricity and phones. McClatchey grabbed her camera and took the only known picture of the smoke cloud from the explosion ^[72][73]. Ten years after 9/11, a video of the rising smoke cloud filmed by Dave Berkebile (deceased by 2011) from his yard located eight miles away from the crash site was published on YouTube ^[74][75].
The first responders arrived at the crash site after 10:06.^[52] Cleveland Center controllers, unaware the flight had crashed, notified the Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) at 10:07 that Flight 93 had a bomb on board and passed the last known position. This call was the first time the military was notified about the flight.^[21] Ballinger sent one final ACARS message to Flight 93 at 10:10, "Don't divert to DC. Not an option." He repeated the message one minute later. The Herndon Command Center alerted FAA headquarters that Flight 93 had crashed at 10:13.^[21] NEADS called the Washington Air Route Traffic Control Center for an update on Flight 93 and received notification that the flight had crashed.^[76]
At 10:37, CNN correspondent Aaron Brown, covering the collapse of the World Trade Center, announced, "We are getting reports and we are getting lots of reports and we want to be careful to tell you when we have confirmed them and not, but we have a report that a 747 is down in Pennsylvania, and that remains unconfirmed at this point."^[77] He followed that up at 10:49 by reporting that, "We have a report now that a large plane crashed this morning, north of the Somerset County Airport, which is in western Pennsylvania, not too terribly far from Pittsburgh, about 80 miles or so, a Boeing 767 jet. Don't know whose airline it was, whose airplane it was, and we don't have any details beyond that which I have just given you." In the confusion, he also erroneously reported a second hijacked plane heading for the Pentagon after the crash of the first

united 93 Hijackers

The hijacking of Flight 93 was led by Ziad Jarrah, a member of al-Qaeda.^[2] Jarrah was born in Lebanon to a wealthy family and experienced a secular upbringing.^[3] He intended to become a pilot and moved to Germany in 1996, enrolling at the University of Greifswald to study German.^[4] A year later, he moved to Hamburg and began studying aeronautical engineering at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences.^[5] While living in Hamburg, Jarrah became a devout Muslim and associated with the radical Hamburg cell.^[5][6]
In November 1999, Jarrah left Hamburg and went to Afghanistan, where he spent three months.^[7] While there, he met with al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in January 2000.^[8] Jarrah returned to Hamburg at the end of January and obtained a clean passport in February by reporting his passport as stolen.^[9][10]
In May, Jarrah received a visa from the U.S. Embassy in Berlin,^[11] and he arrived in Florida in June 2000. There, he began taking flying lessons as well as training in hand-to-hand combat.^[12][13] Jarrah maintained contact with his girlfriend in Germany and his family in the months preceding the attacks.^[14] This close contact upset Mohamed Atta, the tactical leader of the plot, and al-Qaeda planners may have considered another operative, Zacarias Moussaoui, to replace him if he backed out.^[15] Soon after the attacks, Jarrah's family asserted that he was an "innocent passenger" onboard the flight.^[16]
Three "muscle" hijackers trained to storm the cockpit and overpower the crew accompanied Jarrah on Flight 93.^[17] One of them, Ahmed al-Nami, arrived in Miami, Florida, on May 28, 2001, on a six-month tourist visa with United Airlines Flight 175 hijackers Hamza al-Ghamdi and Mohand al-Shehri. Another Flight 93 hijacker, Ahmed al-Haznawi, arrived in Miami on June 8 with Flight 11 hijacker Wail al-Shehri. The third Flight 93 muscle hijacker, Saeed al-Ghamdi, arrived in Orlando, Florida, on June 27 with Flight 175 hijacker Fayez Banihammad.^[12] Passports of Ziad Jarrah and Saeed al-Ghamdi were recovered from the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93

Melissa Gilbert files for divorce from Bruce Boxleitner

Melissa Gilbert has filed for divorce from Bruce Boxleitner, making the move to end their 16-year marriage a little more than five months after they announced their separation.
The petition was filed Monday in L.A. and gave the date of the actors' separation as January, the month of their 16th anniversary. The very common "irreconcilable differences" was cited, with Gilbert seeking spousal support and joint custody of their 15-year-old son, Michael Boxleitner.
"We have loved each other for a very long time," Gilbert said in March, "and we share four incredible sons together." In addition to their son together, Boxleitner, 61, and Gilbert, 47, have one son from her previous marriage and two from his.
Gilbert is perhaps best known for her work on "Little House on the Prairie." Boxleitner, seen reprising his 1982 "TRON" roles in December's "TRON: Legacy," starred with Kate Jackson on the "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" and was a regular on "Babylon 5."
In other Gilbert family news, Melissa's younger sister Sara Gilbert, 36, has split with Allison Adler, 47, her partner of 10 years.
"The Talk" host and her ex plan to share custody of their 6-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter, People said Wednesday.

Minka Kelly and Derek Jeter have 'amicable' breakup

Minka Kelly and Derek Jeter have called it quits on their three-year relationship, which had been peppered with engagement and marriage rumors. Yep, it's a sad day in Pretty-ville.
"The split was amicable," Kelly's reps first told Just Jared about the breakup. "But they remain friends. They still really care for each other."
Perhaps that means there were no in-flight meltdowns in response to the romantic strikeout.
The New York Yankees shortstop, 37, and the star of the upcoming "Charlie's Angels" TV reboot, 31, had kept mum about their relationship, but Kelly was frequently spotted on his arm and was in the stadium for Jeter's 3,000th career hit in July. "The Roommate" actress also appeared in the HBO documentary "Derek Jeter 3K" last month, which chronicled the baseball star's career.
Jeter's little black book includes Mariah Carey, Miss Universe Lara Dutta, Scarlett Johansson, singer Joy Enriquez, Jessica Biel, Jessica Alba, Tyra Banks and many, many others. Kelly has been romantically linked to Chris Evans, Donald Faison, and, of course, John Mayer.
Kelly is currently shooting her ABC show in Miami; it premieres Sept. 22. And here's a clip of Kelly and her costars kicking butt Drew Barrymore-style.

minka kelly

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  Minka Dumont Kelly (born June 24, 1980) is an American actress. She starred in the NBC series Friday Night Lights as Lyla Garrity from 2006 to 2009.
Kelly was born Minka Dumont Dufay^[1] in Los Angeles.^[2] She is the only child of former Aerosmith guitarist Rick Dufay^[3] and Maureen Dumont Kelly, an exotic dancer and single mother who often moved with her daughter to different communities, before settling in Albuquerque, New Mexico, by the time Minka was in junior high school.^[4] She is of Irish and French descent.^[5]
When she was 19, after graduating from Valley High School in Albuquerque, NM, Kelly returned to Los Angeles.^[4] While on a test shoot for a modeling agency, she was approached by a former Playboy Playmate interested in managing her, and who placed Kelly as a receptionist at a surgeon's office who would provide Kelly breast augmentation in exchange for hours worked. She ultimately decided against the procedure, leading to her being fired.^[4] However, the exposure to the medical field prompted her to attend school for a year to become a surgeon's assistant; afterward, she worked as a scrub tech.^[4] She spent four years in that vocation while also auditioning as an actress before landing the new NBC television drama Friday Night Lights, based on the high school football movie of that name.^[4] In the interim, she had small roles in movies and shows, including the film State's Evidence, and a recurring guest role on the TV sitcom What I Like About You.^[3]
In preparation for her role as cheerleader Lyla Garrity on Friday Night Lights, she trained with the Pflugerville High School cheerleading squad.^[2] Kelly received praise for her acting on the series, with The New York Times calling her performance "heartbreaking."^[6]
She shot a cameo for The Kingdom, alongside Jamie Foxx. Peter Berg, the creator and pilot director of Friday Night Lights, directed the film.^[7] Kelly was the lead actor on The CW's 2009 pilot Body Politic, which did not go to series. Kelly was a member of the ensemble quartet that starred in the CBS comedy pilot Mad Love, playing Kate, a Midwestern girl who falls in love with Henry at the top of the Empire State Building, but was replaced by Sarah Chalke.^[8]
Kelly appeared with Alyson Hannigan, Jaime King, Emily Deschanel, and Katharine McPhee in a video slumber party featured on FunnyorDie.com to promote regular breast cancer screenings for the organization Stand Up 2 Cancer.^[9]
In 2010, ABC announced that Kelly would join the cast of the upcoming remake of the television series Charlie's Angels.^[10] That same year, Kelly also was named "Sexiest Woman Alive" in the annual Esquire magazine feature.^[4] She accepted a role in the Off Broadway play Love, Loss, and What I Wore for an April 27 through May 29, 2011 run with Conchata Ferrell, AnnaLynne McCord, Anne Meara, and B. Smith.^[11]
Kelly dated Dylan Brazil in 2005,^[12] and had relationships with actors Chris Evans and Donald Faison. She dated musician John Mayer from September 2007 to January 2008. She dated baseball player Derek Jeter^[13][14] from 2008 until August 26, 2011.
 

Rep. Maxine Waters: ‘The tea party can go straight to hell’

California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, who had some tough words for the leaders of her own party last week, took aim at the other side on Saturday, saying that the tea party could "go straight to hell."
"I'm not afraid of anybody," Waters said at a weekend community meeting in Inglewood, California. "This is a tough game. You can't be intimidated. You can't be frightened. And as far as I'm concerned, the tea party can go straight to hell."
 At a job fair in Detroit last week, the 11-term congresswoman said that black members of Congress were growing "tired" of defending President Barack Obama in the face of high unemployment rates.
"We do not put pressure on the president because y'all love the president," Waters said. "You are very proud to have a black man as president for the very first time in the history of the United States of America. ... The Congressional Black Caucus loves the president, too. We're supportive of the president, but we're getting tired. We're getting tired. The unemployment is unconscionable. We don't know what the strategy is."

Libyan Rebels Claim Capture of Strategic Port City as Sources Say Qaddafi's 'Back Is Against the Wall' News

Libyan rebels battling Muammar al-Qaddafi's troops along the country's Mediterranean coast said they have captured all of the strategic eastern port city of Brega, which has repeatedly changed hands in the 6-month-old civil war.
Rebel military spokesman Col. Ahmed Bani said fighters gained control Saturday of the industrial section of Brega, after having captured its residential areas last week.
Brega's capture is an important boost for the rebels. It contains Libya's second-largest hydrocarbon complex and is where the country's main oil fields feed into for refining.
"We have liberated Brega and all of it is under our control," Bani told The Associated Press on Saturday. "The fighters are in the port and taken the refineries."
Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi's "back is against the wall" U.S. officials told Fox News, though it's still too early to tell whether rebel forces closing in on the capital Tripoli are close to ousting him.
Qaddafi's troops seemed increasingly isolated in recent days, scrambling to use all force available to hold back rebels at the western front of the roiling civil war that has swept the country. Meanwhile, NATO has stepped up bombings in Tripoli, and rebels blocked supply route from Tunisia. A U.S. official confirmed to Fox News that “the squeeze is getting tighter” on Qaddafi -- and that he may simply abandon the country.
“The regime’s back is against the wall,” the official said, and the rebels are having success across the country including areas around Tripoli. Yet it remained unclear when exactly the Libyan leader would leave the country.
“When Qaddafi decides to go is in the mind of one man,” the top official told Fox News. But the overall message was clear: “It would not be a surprise if Qaddafi decided the time is up.”
The remarks clarify comments U.S. officials have made in past days about Qaddafi's plans, which still remain murky. Some reports point to him considering a move with his family, possibly for exile in Tunisia, for example.
The reports come as Pentagon officials described Libyan rebel gains as “significant developments” in the civil war that has engulfed the country.
On Wednesday, Pentagon spokesman George Little said that "the future doesn't look particularly bright for Qaddafi, but we'll have to see where things go."
He attributed the outlook to the rebel effort combined with sustained pressure from NATO operations and the economic and diplomatic sanctions.
Speaking at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Qaddafi's days are numbered.
But on Thursday, the regime tried to dispute claims that the Libyan military was weakening.
"I want to assure you the Libyan government is still strong and resilient and is in control of the country and all its territory,” Prime Minister Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi said. "Az Zawiyah is under our full control.”
"In terms of our military strength, we are powerful enough to finish this fight, but the cost in lives would be too high," he said referring to possible government counterattacks.
"We are a tribal people and the risk of this violence spreading is too great," said al-Mahmoudi..
Citing the increasing bloodshed the prime minister said it was "high time for a cease-fire."
NATO has been bombarding military targets in Libya since a no-fly zone was instituted in March. That includes areas near and in Qaddafi's sprawling Bab al-Aziziya compound, which is the Libyan leader's main headquarters and acts as a military barracks.
At least seven loud blasts were heard in Tripoli early Friday morning as bombs fell in the vicinity of Qaddafi’s main compound of Bab al-Aziziya.
An Associated Press correspondent staying in a hotel in the capital said he heard the explosions and saw flames in the air as bombs struck the ground. NATO jets were heard circling the sky above.
Residents in Tripoli also told The Associated Press that at least three blasts were heard on the road leading to the airport in the capital.
Just 30 miles to the west of the capital, opposition fighters in Libya's western mountains claimed control Thursday of the country's last functioning oil refinery, a significant blow to Qaddafi's regime.
The refinery is located in the strategic city of Zawiya, where rebels have made great strides in battles with government forces since their initial assault on Saturday.
A rebel victory in Zawiya could leave Qaddafi nearly cornered in his increasingly isolated stronghold of Tripoli, the capital, just 30 miles to the east along the Mediterranean coast.
Rebel fighters are now closing in on the capital from the west and the south, while NATO controls the seas to the north. The opposition is in control of most of the eastern half of the country and has declared Benghazi, 620 miles east of Tripoli, as its de facto capital.
Families fleeing their homes to avoid a possible rebel assault on Tripoli described growing tensions and deteriorating living conditions in the capital: Security forces have blanketed the city with checkpoints, gun battles are heard after nightfall and power outages last days.
Fox News' Justin Fishel and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Ship due to pick up Britons from Libya comes under fire

A Maltese ship which was due to rescue foreign nationals - nine of them British - from Tripoli, Libya, came under fire on Sunday and was forced to retreat, the Times of Malta has said.
It said cargo ship Triva I was due leave Tripoli on Sunday morning.
The MoD said HMS Liverpool had towed a Maltese-registered vessel, damaged by hostile fire, to open waters.
On Sunday, Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said up to nine Britons had decided to leave on a Maltese ship.
Heavy fighting is taking place in Tripoli around the compound of embattled Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi, after rebels seized control of much of the city.
Jubilant crowds have gathered in central Green Square, previously the scene of nightly pro-Gaddafi demonstrations.
According to the Times of Malta, about 15 Maltese who remained in Tripoli were expecting to board Triva I - which can carry about 60 passengers - on Sunday.
A number of Polish, British and Lebanese nationals were also planning to board the boat at about 09:00 local time. A pregnant Polish woman and her three children and up to nine British nationals were also expected to leave on the vessel, it said.
Reports that the Maltese ship had come under fire first emerged on Sunday, when AFP news agency reported Polish officials as saying it had been forced to retreat to sea after being hit by gunfire.
Migrant help On Monday, Major General Nick Pope, the chief of the defence staff's communications officer, said: "At sea, HMS Liverpool was conducting surveillance off Tripoli when she sighted a small Maltese-registered vessel which had been damaged by hostile fire while leaving Tripoli port, apparently with evacuees embarked.
"The vessel was under way but her manoeuvrability was impaired. HMS Liverpool passed a line to the vessel and towed her to open waters where she was able to proceed safely.
"Liverpool alerted the Maltese authorities to the vessel's condition, and then was able to return to her duties off the coast."
Meanwhile, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said it had dispatched a ship to Tripoli to evacuate migrants.
It said the ship - which has the capacity to carry 300 people - left the eastern city of Benghazi on Monday, and was due to arrive in Tripoli on Tuesday.
More than 5,000 Bangladeshis, Filipinos and Egyptians have asked the migration agency for help to leave the capital, it said.
Those evacuated to Benghazi will taken by road to the Egyptian border at Salloum before they get help to return to their home countries.
Consistent In February, the government evacuated hundreds of UK citizens on specially chartered flights and HMS Cumberland.
The British embassy in Tripoli has been empty since staff were evacuated earlier in the year.
On Sunday, Mr Burt said: "Our advice to people in Tripoli has been consistent over a lengthy period of time, obviously to take all available opportunities to leave.
"Most of those who are still there have had reasons to stay embedded, many will have had relatives or relations, and have been content to stay in Tripoli."
British forces have been involved in a Nato mission to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya to protect civilians using "all necessary measures" short of a ground invasion since March.