Chaos Reigns As Gaddafi Forces Fight Back

8:11pm UK, Friday September 16, 2011
Lorna Ward, Sky News producer in Bani Walid

The rockets and mortars are relentless, dropping one after the other all around the northern edge of Bani Walid as the revolutionary forces try to advance. 

Anti-Gaddafi fighters carry their wounded comrade during fighting at the frontline.
Anti-Gaddafi fighters carry their wounded comrade during fighting at the frontline
The ambulances are not far behind, screeching back up the road to the north, towards the trauma bays in the small village beyond.
The incoming fire keeps the anti-Gaddafi fighters running and confuses an already chaotic battlefield.
Initially they made ground - advancing toward the centre. Some fighters on the outskirts said they had managed to seize a hotel and market square.
But every step forward is pushed back.
Anti-Gaddafi fighters head to the front line, north of the besieged city of Bani Walid
Anti-Gaddafi fighters prepare to advance nearer to Bani Walid's city centre
The terrain favours their enemy, and they have had weeks to build up defences and place their best marksmen on the hills overlooking the approaches.
Even as they edge forward into the scattering of hamlets in the valley, they are being outsmarted by Gaddafi's well-trained soldiers.
One doctor who's been treating the ever-increasing number of casualties told us the front ranks of the revolutionary fighters are being outflanked by snipers.
As they move in between the houses, they're finding themselves completely surrounded - left with no way out as the bullets rain down.
Anti-Gaddafi fighters fire their heavy machine gun towards pro-Gadaffi forces in the besieged city of Bani Walid.
Anti-Gaddafi fighters fire their heavy machine gun towards pro-Gaddafi forces
The die-hard remnants of the old regime clearly intend to fight to the very end.
They are holding out, undaunted by the repeated Nato air strikes over the last two weeks.
Despite what Nato is calling an "intensive presence" over the area and the targeting of military hardware and positions, they still have an armoury of heavy weaponry which they are using to devastating effect.
At one of the checkpoints on the outskirts, the pressure is too much and an argument breaks out between the rebels.
When they launched their first attack into the city, they were optimistic it would all be over in days.
It's now dawning on them it will take some time yet before the rebel flag is flying in the centre of Bani Walid.