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Heavy smoke rises from Sirte city after NATO bombing of the positions of Gadhafi loyalists during heavy fighting with anti-Gadhafi forces, as they push forward towards the centre of Sirte October 7, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

SIRTE, Libya - Libyan transitional government forces launched their biggest assault yet on Muammar Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte on Friday, firing heavy artillery at the last major bastion of support for the deposed leader.

 

Taking the coastal town would bring Libya's new rulers closer to finally gaining control of the whole country almost two months after they seized the capital Tripoli, but they are also under pressure to spare the civilians trapped inside.

Forces loyal to the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC), who for weeks have waited on the edge of Sirte, now say the battle is entering its final and decisive phase.

NTC commander Mustafa Al-Ameen, standing on a hill on the eastern outskirts overlooking the city, said while progress was being made, there was still resistance from Gadhafi loyalists.

"The forces that went in managed to advance into Sirte but we couldn't go further because of sniper fire," he said.

The prolonged struggle of the NTC to capture a few remaining bastions of pro-Gadhafi loyalists has sidetracked its effort to establish effective government over the sprawling North African state and rebuild oil production vital to its economy.

Columns of black smoke rose above Sirte's skyline as NTC forces fired tank shells and rounds of artillery toward the city centre from their positions to the east.

Inside Sirte, on its northeastern corner, fighters said they had cleared out what is known locally as the "Mauritanian neighbourhood" after intense building-by-building fighting.

Thousands of civilians have fled Sirte as fighting has intensified, describing increasingly desperate conditions for those inside the Mediterranean seafront city. One resident spoke of the stench of rotting corpses in the hospital.  

Reflecting growing international disquiet, a senior United Nations envoy urged NTC fighters battling their way into the city not to take reprisals against Gadhafi supporters.

Anti-Gadhafi commanders started the day predicting a swift conclusion to the fighting and, for the first time in days, forces in the west and south of the city joined units in the east in a coordinated assault.

NTC trucks with ammunition and artillery batteries were brought forward to the eastern front line, 1.2 km (0.8 miles) from the city centre.

But Gadhafi loyalists used sniper fire and rocket-propelled grenades to prevent NTC forces from entering the city centre.  

Reuters reporters in the east of Sirte saw one NTC fighter hit in the head, apparently by a bullet fired by a sniper.

At a dressing station outside Sirte, surgeon Nuri Al-Naeri said that 12 people had been killed in fighting on the western side of the city on Friday, and another 139 were wounded.

"A lot of injuries were from snipers," he said.

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