Residents of the Libyan oasis town of Bani Walid, long a bastion of Moamer Kadhafi’s regime, are resigned to the country’s new leadership but say the slain dictator lives on in their hearts.

The town, which was one of the last towns to fall to the rebels last year and was the scene of new violence earlier this week, fared well during the Kadhafi era when it was a major recruitment ground for his regime’s elite troops.

“Moamer is in our hearts. If someone here tells you otherwise, he is lying,” said Salahuddin al-Werfelli, 19.