NTC fighters move in for kill in Gaddafi town

Forces of Libya's new regime were looking to move in for the kill against Muammar Gaddafi's diehards in his hometown yesterday after meeting little resistance and taking several key objectives.
A day after seizing Sirte's police headquarters, the National Transitional Council forces were still closing in from the east and west on ever smaller pockets of pro-Gaddafi forces.
Hundreds of them, massed in dozens of pickups, fired rockets from the west of the Mediterranean city whose seizure will enable the NTC to declare the liberation of Libya and clear the way for an election timetable.
An AFP correspondent said Sirte's main square and entire waterfront was under NTC control, along with its fortress-like conference centre, university campus and main hospital, which the fighters all seized on Sunday.
"All our lines are now in place; the area is completely surrounded," said NTC commander Zubayr Bakush.
Within a few hours, the new regime forces had advanced another two kilometres (1.2 miles) and were only encountering small pockets of resistance, with most of the fire power going one direction only, at the Gaddafi loyalists.
NTC soldiers went house to house, clearing each one of them, and sometimes arresting prisoners.
The plight of stranded civilians raised the concerns of Human Rights Watch, which called on both sides yesterday to minimise harm to them and to ensure that prisoners are treated humanely.
The New York-based watchdog said much of Sirte's population of around 100,000 has already fled, but that an unknown number of civilians remain in the city centre.
New regime fighters in Sirte were buoyed on Tuesday night by a two-hour visit from NTC chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil, and said he visited the one-time Gaddafi showpiece Ouagadougou conference centre.
Medics at a field hospital in western Sirte reported five killed and 42 wounded on Tuesday, while medics in the east reported 11 dead -- including six Gaddafi loyalists -- and 52 wounded.
The NTC forces had besieged Sirte from September 15 before launching on Friday what they termed a "final assault" that has seen nearly 80 of their number killed and hundreds wounded, according to medics.
Nato warplanes, backing the NTC, overflew Sirte early yesterday without firing, an AFP correspondent reported, as the alliance said in its latest update that it had struck six vehicles in Bani Walid.
Outside that oasis, 170 kilometres southeast of Tripoli, NTC fighters are also gearing for a renewed onslaught on the town, which is another remaining bastion of forces loyal to the ousted dictator.