"We have resumed combat operations and we have advanced from the northern front as well as from the south," said Musa Yunis, who heads the National Transitional Council (NTC) forces in Bani Walid, a desert oasis town some 170 kilometres (100 miles) southeast of Tripoli. The NTC forces launched a barrage of artillery fire against the positions of the Qadhafi loyalists, but they met fierce resistance as they advanced, with at least three men killed, a commander from the city of Zawiyah told AFP. "Three of my best friends were killed by snipers, two of them from Zawiyah and one of them from Homs," a district of Misrata, he said. NTC fighters have surrounded the town but their commanders pulled them back last week after suffering heavy losses and to prepare for a new offensive against the 1,500 pro-Qadhafi fighters thought to remain there. Last Sunday, the disparate forces of the new regime paid a heavy price for their lack of coordination, having to abandon control of the airport and losing 17 of their men. Another 80 were wounded. The Jado Brigade, the most well-organised of the NTC fighters, then withdrew to the town of Mezda, but clashes continued, with 30 fighters from the Zawiya Brigade killed since Tuesday, according to their commander.