NTC forces assault Gaddafi hometown

Fighters for Libya’s interim rulers entered Muammar Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte, braving heavy rocket and machine-gun fire in a “surprise” assault one commander said would lead to the city’s fall yesterday.

First we get the families out, and then the order is to attack and free Sirte

National Transitional Council chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil said in his former eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi, meanwhile, that a transitional government would be announced this week.

At a makeshift field hospital in a mosque west of Sirte, Dr Fatih Danini reported two NTC fighters were killed and 30 wounded in an apparent pincer movement also launched from the south and east.

Using tanks and pick-up trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns, the NTC forces cleared away roadblocks set up by Gaddafi forces and drove towards the city centre before setting up their own defences in advanced positions.

“We are pushing them back now” after a “surprise” order to attack issued by the NTC’s top military brass, commander Moh­ammed al-Aswawi said in a radio truck monitoring all units on the front.

“First we get the families out, and then the order is to attack and free Sirte,” he told AFP. “There is also an advance from the south,” he added, as the Misurata Military Council said the city’s southern front was being reinforced by NTC fighters th at took part in “the liberation of Al-Jafra”.

Another commander said: “We’re taking Sirte today. Our fighters are four to five kilometres into the city,” from the roundabout that has been the front line for the past several days.

One NTC fighter, Bashir Salem, said “there are lots of snipers and they are firing lots of rocket-propelled grenades.”

Fighter Ali Mohammed Wada, who was hit in the arm by shrapnel, reported a major firefight inside Sirte with Gaddafi’s forces, who were using RPGs and hand grenades.

“They tried to close the gates and we went deep inside the city,” Wada told AFP. “We also have people coming in from the coastal road. This is the furthest we have gone into the city so far.”

He said the plan is to take the city centre and that “when the Gaddafi forces try to flee south we will get them there.”

NTC fighters also came under heavy fire as they advanced inside Sirte’s eastern gates, another AFP correspondent reported.

“Our troops went seven kilometres inside through the eastern gate and there were sporadic to sometimes heavy clashes with Gaddafi’s forces,” said commander Mohammed al-Marimi of the Fakriddin Sallabi Brigade.

Heavy fighting also raged in Bani Walid, the only other remaining bastion of pro-Gaddafi diehards, as medics reported that a total of 30 NTC troops have been killed so far on that front.

A radio station loyal to the fallen Gaddafi regime called for a gathering at one of Bani Walid’s squares, following a similar call for people to rise up for the “liberation” of the town by Gaddafi’s most prominent sons, Seif al Islam.

In the capital, explosions could be heard coming from an area near a naval base in Tripoli, sending a vast plume of black smoke into the sky.

“We’ve heard at least 12 explosions,” said Ahmed Mohammed, a resident of the Abuseta district of eastern Tripoli. “there is a naval base over there”.

On the political front, the NTC held talks on forming a new government amid doubts over whether disagreements that prevented a deal last week could be immediately overcome.

Abdel Jalil, the head of the National Transitional Council, told a news conference the makeup of the interim government “will be announced next week”.