Libya conflict: Gaddafi town Sirte 'close to falling'

NTC fighters celebrating the capture of the Ouagadougou conference centre, Sirte (9 October 2011)

NTC fighters battled for two days to take control of the Ouagadougou centre

Libya Crisis

Interim government forces in Libya have made significant gains in the battle for the city of Sirte - hometown of the fugitive leader Col Muammar Gaddafi.

National Transitional Council (NTC) commanders said they had captured the main hospital, the university and the Ouagadougou conference centre.

But heavy street fighting continues around Sirte city centre.

Once Sirte falls, the NTC say they will declare national liberation, even if Col Gaddafi remains at large.

Pro-Gaddafi forces also control the desert enclave of Bani Walid, but it is seen as less significant as it does not lead to any exit routes from the country.

Fierce fighting

Gaddafi loyalists made a bastion out of the sprawling Ouagadougou conference centre, built to host pan-African summits.

Snipers stationed on the roof picked off NTC fighters as they approached.

But by Sunday afternoon, NTC fighters said they had taken control of the badly damaged complex. Their claims could not be verified independently.

They also captured the main hospital in Sirte, taking into custody several people suspected of being Gaddafi loyalists.

The hospital has no electricity or water, and a handful of medical students and nurses were the only medical staff, the Associated Press reports.

AP says Gaddafi loyalists now hold an ever-shrinking area, consisting only of a Gaddafi palace complex, some residential buildings and a hotel near Green Square in the city centre.

Thousands of civilians are said to remain trapped in Sirte, many of them fearful of retaliation by NTC forces.

'Many snipers'

NTC fighters came up against heavy weapons including tanks and artillery in Sirte on Friday and Saturday.

An NTC commander, Nasser Zamud, told AFP the fighting in the university area had been "difficult" with NTC forces facing "a lot of snipers".

Video showed one injured fighter at the campus hobbling after his comrades with a crutch in one hand and a Kalashnikov assault rifle in the other.

On Friday, NTC forces launched what they called a final assault on Sirte, pushing pro-Gaddafi fighters back from their positions and towards the city centre.

But on Saturday, their rapid advance slowed down as they fought street by street to take control of the city, Libya's symbolic second capital under Col Gaddafi.

By the end of the day, they had taken control of a key boulevard which connects the Ouagadougou centre to the city centre.

Civilians continued to leave Sirte on foot and by car over the weekend. NTC forces stopped and searched them at checkpoints.

On Thursday, Col Gaddafi delivered an audio message urging Libyans to take to the streets "in their millions" to resist the interim leaders.