@GihanTadreftGihan Badi
Libya's new regime fighters retreated under heavy fire from Muammar Gaddafi loyalists in his hometown of Sirte on Thursday as their leaders backtracked on an announcement they had captured one of his sons.
The setback came as the National Transitional Council backtracked on claims it had captured Gaddafi's son Mutassim.
The advancing fighters, who had been hoping to mop up the last pockets of resistance in two residential neighbourhoods in the northwest of the city, withdrew at least a mile to the central police headquarters they had captured on Tuesday, according to reports.
"We have been told to retreat to the police HQ and will be using artillery cannon to hit Gaddafi's forces," fighter Hamid Neji of the Martys of FreeLibya Brigade said on the new front line.
Before the reverse, a field commander of the brigade had said that its fighters were trying to avoid using heavy weaponry against the Dollar and Number Two residential neighbourhoods to avoid civilian casualties.
"We are not going very aggressively into these neighbourhoods because there are still families inside them," Commander Yahya al-Moghasabi said.
"The fighting has narrowed down to these two neighbourhoods," he had added. "We believe it will take another three days to capture them."
Sirte is a key goal for Libya's new leaders who have said they will not proclaim the country's liberation and begin preparing for the transition to an elected government until the city has fallen.
The new regime began its siege of Sirte on September 15 before launching what it termed a "final assault" last Friday that has seen at least 91 of its troops killed and hundreds wounded, according to medics.
The city's main square and waterfront are under the control of new regime fighters, along with its showpiece conference centre, university campus and hospital.
But they have faced unexpectedly stiff resistance in the west of the city despite controlling the whole of the east.
A top adviser of National Transitional Council (NTC) chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil meanwhile backtracked on his announcement that new regime forces had captured Gaddafi's feared son and national security chief Mutassim in Sirte, after it was denied by military commanders in the city.
"There was some confusion about the reports of Mutassim's capture," Abdelkarim Bizama said.
"As soon as we have confirmation, there will be an official announcement of his arrest."
Late on Thursday, Mr Bizama had announced: "Mutassim Gaddafi was captured at Sirte and was transferred to Benghazi," Libya's second-largest city where significant parts of the new leadership remain based.
The announcement sparked celebratory gunfire in both Tripoli and the anti-Gaddafi stronghold of Misurata, Libya's third-largest city, which withstood a devastating siege by his forces during the uprising that ended his 42-year rule.
