Libyan fighters advance into Qaddafi hometown

SIRTE, Libya — Libyan revolutionary forces on Tuesday battled their way into the eastern outskirts of Moammar Qaddafi's hometown of Sirte, commanders said, in a bid to link up with anti-Qaddafi fighters besieging the city from the west and seize control of the loyalist stronghold.

More than a month after sweeping into Tripoli and ending Qaddafi's nearly 42-year rule, Libyan forces still face fierce resistance from the fugitive leader's supporters on three fronts — in Sirte, the town of Bani Walid southeast of the capital and in pockets in the country's vast desert south.

Some of the heaviest fighting has taken place in Sirte, which anti-Qaddafi forces first attacked nearly two weeks ago, but have pulled back in the face of fierce resistance from loyalists holed up inside.

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Revolutionary forces have staked out positions to the west and south of the city, and commanders said anti-Qaddafi forces advancing on Sirte from the east also pushed into the city's outskirts Tuesday.

Abdel-Basit Haroun, a rebel field commander, said his fighters reached a roundabout less than six miles (10 kilometers) east of the city center. He said the plan was for the forces from the east and west to meet inside Sirte.

"We are almost there, but the hard phase of the takeover has just begun," Haroun said. "We stopped using heavy weapons because the residential areas are packed with families, children and women. We are also facing snipers all over the rooftops of tall buildings."

Haroun said foggy weather was also not helping the battle.

He said his forces had installed checkpoints around Sirte to arrest any Qaddafi troops who try to slip out of the city alongside crowds of fleeing civilians.

A revolutionary brigade commander on the city's western front, Al-Tohami Abu Zayan, said anti-Qaddafi forces can take Sirte "whenever we choose," but are holding back to protect civilians. He said fighters are in touch with civilians inside and working to secure a way out for them.

For nearly two weeks, revolutionary forces have regularly fired mortar rounds, Grad rockets and tanks shells into the city. Civilians have fled the city for days, driven out by the fighting as well as deteriorating living conditions, including shortages of food, water and medicine.

The fighters besieging Sirte have received a boost in recent days from NATO, which has played a key role in pounding Qaddafi's military forces since first intervening in the Libyan civil war with an air campaign in March.

British Maj. Gen. Nick Pope said Royal Air Force Aircraft struck targets in Sirte and Bani Walid on Monday. "In Sirte, a formation of Tornado GR4s attacked ammunition stores, destroying their targets with Paveway guided bombs," he said.

He said strikes also hit Bani Walid after NATO reconnaissance identified a psychological warfare center and a firing position used by Qaddafi forces.

NATO also said on Tuesday that about 200,000 Libyan civilians are still threatened by forces loyal to the country's former regime, primarily in the cities of Sirte and Bani Walid.

However, some Sirte residents fleeing the town Monday told a reporter for British daily The Times that NATO's bombing of the besieged city amounted to a genocide of those within its boundaries.

"Nato bombing is killing civilians," a man who identified himself as Mohammed Ali Alum Sekily told The Times. "Where is the United Nations? Where is the Muslim world to stop this genocide of the people of Sirte?"

Sekily said six members of his family had been killed, but he declined to give details on their deaths.

"Remaining Qaddafi forces refuse to recognize their defeat," said NATO spokesman Col. Roland Lavoie. "As a last resort, they are hiding in civilian areas."

Lavoie told a news conference Tuesday in Naples, Italy, that drinking water, food, electricity, medicine and fuel were in short supply in those cities, putting the population under pressure.

Forces loyal to the former regime are looking for Qaddafi opponents, taking them hostage and sometimes executing them, Lavoie said. But he said the loyalists cannot hold out long and NATO's mission would soon end.

In Algeria, where Qaddafi's wife, daughter and two of his sons fled last month, a Foreign Ministry official said Algerian authorities have threatened the Qaddafis with expulsion if they make comments to the media.

The warning comes days after recorded comments by Qaddafi's daughter, Aisha, were broadcast on Syrian-based TV. An Algerian newspaper report also alleged some of the deposed Libyan leader's relatives had flown to Egypt.

The ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, insisted Tuesday that Qaddafi's relatives remain in Algeria. His wife, daughter Aisha and two sons fled to Algeria after Tripoli's fall late last month.

Aisha said in an audio recording aired Friday on Syrian-based Al-Rai TV that her father was in high spirits and fighting alongside his supporters. The Algerian foreign minister has called such public comments "unacceptable."