NTC forces storm into Qadhafi hometown Sirte: military

WADI BEY: Fighters loyal to Libya's new rulers stormed into Sirte from three fronts on Thursday, the military said, in a massive assault on Moamer Qadhafi's hometown and one of his final pockets of resistance.

"Misrata's thwar (fighters) arrived at the Al-Gharbiyat Bridge inside Sirte," the Misrata Military Council said, adding that "our revolutionaries have entered Sirte today on three main axes."

A spokesman for the forces loyal to the National Transitional Council, which set out from Misrata earlier in the day, confirmed that the pro-NTC troops had entered Sirte.

"I confirm our forces are in Sirte; it is a big force," said Fathi Bashaga.

"There is still resistance but our fighters will be able to overcome it," he told an AFP correspondent in Wadi Bey, a desert town where part of the Sirte-bound assault force was held up in a battle with Qadhafi loyalists.

"They are attacking us with 40- and 43-mm mortars and all kinds of weapons."

The military said Misrata hospital had so far received "one martyr and five wounded" from the fight in Sirte, based on initial reports.

Pro-NTC forces had earlier raised their flag on the outskirts of Sirte, the military said separately.

"Misrata's thwar at a distance of 3 km from the Sirte -- Independence flag flying over the last petrol station before the city," the military council said in an English-language statement, referring to the new regime's forces.

A convoy of battle-hardened fighters had set out from Misrata early Thursday before splitting at the crossroads town of Abu Qurin, and a commander said they would approach Sirte in a pincer movement.

The military council said the convoy of more than 900 armoured cars aimed at "freeing the city and raising the banner of independence."

As it rolled out of Misrata, the convoy was cheered on by residents who flashed V-for-victory signs and chanted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest).

With heavy artillery and pickup trucks loaded with machine guns, rocket launchers and Katyusha rockets, the convoy was well stocked with food, water and ammunition.

But roadside support dropped off as the convoy headed through villages towards Sirte, with children and teenagers running alongside but adults standing further back with arms folded and showing little emotion.

"We are turning the tables on Qadhafi. We were attacked in Misrata on three fronts, and now we're going to attack Sirte on three fronts," said Fawzy Sawawy, commander of the Mountains Brigade.

One arm of the convoy took the coastal road to Sirte, another followed a looping desert road, while Sawawy's went deeper south before coming under fire at Wadi Bey.

Forces coming from the south surrounded an air base near Sirte but had not taken control of it, Bashaga said.

As they edged further eastward, the AFP correspondent received unconfirmed reports that NATO struck a south-bound convoy of pro-Qadhafi armoured vehicles about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Sirte.

The rooftops of vehicles in the Misrata convoy were painted yellow and red in an apparent signal to NATO that they are not Qadhafi's forces.

In Wadi Bey, one arm of the convoy was held up for most of the day after it came under heavy fire from Qadhafi loyalists.

An NTC commander said three of his fighters were wounded.

Fighting erupted as the heavily armed convoy neared houses after driving into the town some 130 kilometres (80 miles) southwest of Sirte, the correspondent said.

After several hours, the NTC fighters seemed to be gaining the upper hand and resistance from the town appeared to be diminishing.

They entered from the fringes of Wadi Bey and fighting moved towards the centre of the town, with intense exchanges of gunfire involving heavy weapons.

Murzin Swesi, a fighter who retreated from the city centre with about a dozen men, said: "There are lots of snipers, and they are firing at us with heavy weapons. We will win or we will die."

The whistle of sniper fire and the roar of heavy artillery only subsided at sundown as fighters entered the heart of the city and engaged in street by street negotiations.

Field commander Bashir Ali said: "We will stay here tonight. If anyone shoots at us we will shoot back. Only after going door by door can we say this town has surrendered."

In one street surrounded by NTC fighters in the city centre, four men sat with their backs to the wall after surrendering.

"In this street they have all surrendered and turned over their weapons but in the next street they have yet to do so," said fighter Siraj Juma Agmen, gesturing at battered houses with pristine green flags on their rooftops.

"Tomorrow we will swap all of these flags with ours," said fighter Itman Maturi.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011