Libyan government forces push into centre of Sirte

SIRTE, Libya - Libyan government forces fought their way, street by street, into the centre of Muammar Gaddafi's birthplace, Sirte, on Wednesday after their commanders said the battle for the city was entering its final hours.

Taking Sirte would be of huge importance to Libya's new rulers: dispensing with the biggest pocket of pro-Gaddafi resistance and allowing the interim government to switch its focus to preparing democratic elections.

The battle for the city has come at a high cost for civilians. They have been trapped by the fighting with dwindling supplies of food and water and no proper medical facilities to treat the wounded.

On Wednesday, heavy artillery and rocket fire from Gaddafi loyalists that had been keeping fighters with the National Transitional Council (NTC) pinned down on the outskirts of the city subsided, allowing NTC forces to move in.

"More than half the city is under the control of the (anti-Gaddafi) rebels," said Adel Al-Hasi, a local NTC commander. "In two days, God willing, Sirte will be free."

Medical workers at a field hospital outside Sirte said three NTC fighters were killed and 20 others were wounded on Wednesday.

A Reuters reporter near the centre of Sirte said she could hear the occasional thump of mortars landing near NTC positions, but that pro-Gaddafi forces had now resorted to using small arms as they switched to close-quarter fighting.

The NTC advance took them towards Sirte's government quarter, a grid of expensively built hotels, villas and conference centres where Gaddafi used to host foreign leaders.

One group of anti-Gaddafi fighters positioned themselves in a luxury hotel on the Mediterranean coast, using it as cover to fire on loyalists in a nearby residential area.

Built for Gaddafi and his guests, according to rebels posted there, the brand new hotel had jacuzzis, flat-screen televisions and mahogany furniture in the rooms.

The building though was now riddled with holes from bullets and rocket-propelled grenades. Smashed glass lay on the floor and there were bloodstains on the stairs.

"God willing, we will be entering on Friday," said Mohammed Ramadan Abul-Kassem, another NTC commander. "You will watch us enter the city of Sirte and we will liberate it from those who are endangering our future state."

International aid agencies have warned of a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding inside Sirte.

They say people are dying from wounds in the hospital because they cannot be treated properly, while residents are falling ill from malnutrition and drinking tainted water.

Robert Lanknau, an aid worker with the International Medical Corps, said he was working at a field hospital near Sirte that was treating up to 100 civilians a day who had fled the bombardment.

MASS GRAVE

In Tripoli, a military unit allied to the NTC said it had discovered a mass grave containing the bodies of more than 200 people who died in the chaos of the assault that ousted Gaddafi.

More than a dozen sites have been identified as mass graves since the fall of Gaddafi regime in August.

In Sirte, some people have directed their anger at NATO, saying the alliance's aircraft were striking residential areas.

A NATO spokesman said its aircraft had not carried out strikes on Sirte since the weekend and were sticking to their mandate to protect civilians.

"The situation is very difficult and potentially confusing for the civilian people in Sirte at the moment," the spokesman, Roland Lavoie, said in a statement.

"NATO aircraft overhead, while not striking during the close fighting in the city, are continuously conducting surveillance and reconnaissance missions to monitor the situation," said Lavoie.

On the Western edge of Sirte, a delegation from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was waiting for a break in the fighting, and agreement from the two sides, to send in two trucks with supplies.

"We are concerned about the civilian population. Our priority concern is care of the wounded and sick. We want to make sure they have proper care," said ICRC official Hishem Khadrawy.

ANGRY RESIDENTS

On a ridge near the spot where the Red Cross convoy was waiting, two NTC tanks were lined up and firing shells into the city, sending up clouds of dust, shaking nearby trees and, in the distance, columns of smoke rose from where they hit.

There was no evidence of the Gaddafi loyalists responding with their own heavy weapons. That may be the result of days of bombardment of loyalist positions by NTC artillery batteries, and earlier strikes by NATO aircraft.

There was no sign either of civilian vehicles leaving, in contrast to previous days when hundreds of families have driven out of the city to seek refuge elsewhere.

The NTC, anxious not to be seen using the same violent tactics that Gaddafi employed against rebel strongholds earlier in the conflict, says it delayed its final push into Sirte until all the civilians who wanted to leave were out.

But residents of the city voiced anger and resentment at the anti-Gaddafi forces, saying they have shelled indiscriminately.

"Let them look for Muammar, but do not kill 50,000 people to change the regime," said a resident who gave his name as al-Fatouri. "It is not worth it that thousands die in Sirte for Muammar. This is what saddens us."

Many people in Sirte are members of Gaddafi's tribe and still support him, testing the commitment by Libya's new rulers to seek reconciliation with all sections of Libyan society, including those that backed Gaddafi.

Another resident, who did not give his name, demanded:"What did America and NATO bring to us? Did they bring apricots? No, they brought us the shelling and the strikes. They terrorised our kids."