Columns of fighters loyal to Libya’s new leaders surged into Moamer Gaddafi’s hometown Sirte on Friday, sparking battles with loyalists in three sectors including at the airport, commanders said. Columns of NTC fighters backed by tanks launched the assault late morning on Sirte, 360 kilometres (225 miles) west of Tripoli, after a first attack the previous day was repulsed by loyalists, who set up sniper nests on rooftops.
An AFP reporter witnessed heavy fighting at the airport and two kilometres (about a mile) southeast of the city centre, with NTC forces firing anti-aircraft guns and heavy cannon within the city limits and Gaddafi forces responding with sniper fire and Grad rockets. Senior military commander Salem Jear, also a member of Misrata Military Council, told AFP that NTC forces were nearing the centre of Sirte. “We are advancing in from the west and the south towards the city centre,” he said by telephone.
