(Reuters) - Libyan rebels advanced from the east on Muammar Gaddafi's hometown Sirte and clung to positions in a western town near the capital Tripoli after withstanding two armored assaults by government forces.
Intense, sustained machinegun fire rattled the center of Tripoli, Gaddafi's biggest stronghold, before dawn on Sunday. It was unclear who was shooting or what had caused it. Witnesses also heard much wild honking of car horns.
Calm settled back over the western town of Zawiyah after nightfall, with rifle-toting insurgents on rooftops and manning checkpoints on streets leading into the center. But the rebels said they were bracing for another tank and artillery attack by government on Sunday.
A doctor in Zawiyah, some 50 km (30 miles) west of Tripoli, said at least 30 people, mostly civilians, were killed during fighting on Saturday that wrecked the town center, raising to at least 60 the death toll from two days of battles.
Almost 600 km (400 miles) to the east along Libya's Mediterranean coast, insurgents said they took the town of Bin Jawad, on the heels of seizing the oil port of Ras Lanuf, and were thrusting westwards toward Sirte 160 km (100 miles) away.
Exultant after asserting control over much of the east of the vast oil-exporting North African state in a two-week-old insurrection against 41 years of rule by the maverick autocrat Gaddafi, some rebels said an assault on Sirte was imminent.
"We're going to attack Sirte, now," rebel fighter Mohamed Salim told Reuters, while another fighter, Mohamed Fathi, said: "Listen, we have no organization and no military plan. We go where we're needed."
"If (rebels) can expand down into the Gulf of Sirte ... they've got a very good shot at independence at the least -- or maybe even overturning him at the most," said Peter Zeihan, analyst with the U.S.-based Stratfor intelligence newsletter.
But others were wary of the limitations of an undisciplined rebel force made up of soldiers who have bolted from Gaddafi's ranks and volunteers who have more enthusiasm than experience.
GADDAFI REDOUBT
Where many eastern towns have fallen with scant resistance, Sirte is unlikely to be a pushover. It has long received hefty subsidies from Gaddafi, who liked to host Arab and other international conferences in the coastal city.
Sirte also hosts a major air base and significant military forces loyal to Gaddafi.
Britain's Sunday Times reported that rebels had seized a British SAS special forces unit of up to eight soldiers escorting a junior diplomat in eastern Libya on a secret diplomatic mission to make contact with opposition leaders.
The SAS intervention apparently angered opposition figures fear Gaddafi could use any evidence of Western military intervention to sway patriotic support away from the uprising, according to the London paper.
In a French newspaper interview, Gaddafi said he was embroiled in a fight against Islamist terrorism and expressed dismay at the absence of support from abroad.
