Rebels Stuck at Bin Jawad on Way to Gadhafi Hometown Sirte

Libyan rebels advancing towards Sirte, the hometown of Moammar Gadhafi, were blocked Wednesday in the town of Bin Jawad as loyalists kept a stiff resistance, an insurgent commander said.

After taking Ras Lanuf, 150 kilometers west of Sirte, the rebels had advanced up to Bin Jawad, but were stuck there as they came under heavy artillery, rebel commander Fawzi Bukatif told Agence France Presse.

"Gadhafi's forces are still fighting, we are surprised. We thought they would surrender with the fall of Tripoli," Bukatif said in the nearby coastal town of Zuwaytina which also houses an oil exporting port.

"Maybe something or somebody is behind them," he said, adding "maybe" when asked if he was referring to Gadhafi or his sons.

"They built their defense lines on the 'Red Valley' ahead of Sirte. We are starting negotiations but they are blocked," he said without elaborating.

"It seems they will not surrender but we want to save the town and keep it as good as possible. We are trying to get free access to Sirte to establish a security committee there so our forces can guarantee that everything is in order. It is a question of time."

An AFP correspondent traveling with the rebels reported that heavy artillery fire could be heard from Gadhafi forces in Sirte.

From the oil town of Brega, columns of military vehicles were heading late afternoon to Ras Lanuf to help the rebels who were facing artillery shelling from loyalist forces there too.

At a press conference in the rebel bastion of Benghazi, the head of the rebel National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, appealed to the people of Sirte and Zliten to help the rebels in negotiations.

"I assure the residents that the rebels who are negotiating with them are theirs," he said.

"Moammar Gadhafi has played on the division in these regions, into believing that the revolutionaries had taken their wives and money. They should get rid of these false ideas spread by the tyrant," he said.

Another rebel military spokesman in Benghazi said that freeing Sirte was just a "matter of time", adding that insurgents had captured Ras Lanuf.

"The retreat of the forces of the tyrant was possible after violent battles by the revolutionaries which removed the loyalists from Ras Lanuf," Ahmad Omar Bani said at a news conference.

He also said that Tripoli itself was fully liberated, although there were some snipers loyal to Gadhafi deployed.

Bani also said that it was "difficult" to comment on the location of Gadhafi himself.