NTC Forces Regroup Ahead of Final Assault on Sirte

Forces of Libya's new leadership were regrouping on Friday ahead of the expected final battle for the hometown of fugitive fallen strongman Moammar Gadhafi, after suffering heavy casualties.

An Agence France Presse correspondent at Hassan, some 60 kilometers (35 miles) west of the coastal city, one of Gadhafi's holdout strongholds, said National Transitional Council (NTC) forces were preparing there for the final assault on Sirte.

There were dozens of pick-ups bristling with anti-aircraft guns and some with cannon, along with many trucks, some laden with ammunition.

"There are many different katibas (brigades) here. This is a back point to refuel," Sadiq Fayturi, head of logistics of the Qabra Brigade, told AFP.

"Many of the katibas are about 20 kilometers south of Sirte in the villages of Jaraf and Egbeba."

NTC fighters said on Friday they had suffered heavy casualties in the struggle for Sirte, with at least 11 killed and 34 hurt.

"Initial statistics: 11 martyrs and 34 wounded," an English-language statement by the Misrata Military Council said, adding that it had captured 40 Gadhafi loyalists.

According to the military council, their fighters stormed from three fronts on Thursday into the Mediterranean city.

A military spokesman, Fathi Bashaga, said a "big force" had entered Sirte.

"There is still resistance but our fighters will be able to overcome it," he told AFP.

"They are attacking us with 40- and 43-mm mortars and all kinds of weapons."

A convoy of battle-hardened fighters had set out from the port city of Misrata, some 150 kilometers (93 miles) west of Sirte, early on Thursday before splitting at the crossroads town of Abu Qurin for a three-pronged attack on Sirte.

The military council said the convoy of more than 900 armored cars aimed at "freeing the city and raising the banner of independence."

Fighters on the ground on Friday were upbeat.

"We are expecting more clashes with Gadhafi's forces, but we hope to take all of Sirte today," Salah al-Areg, a fighter with the Al-Wadi Brigade told AFP.

"There are also Gadhafi forces holed up in Wadi Jaraf, some 30 kilometers from Sirte."

Fawzy Sawawy, commander of the Mountains Brigade, said on Thursday: "We are turning the tables on Gadhafi. We were attacked in Misrata on three fronts, and now we're going to attack Sirte on three fronts."

At the so-called Gate 50 checkpoint, 50 kilometers west of Sirte, an AFP correspondent on Friday saw NTC forces burying the bodies of four people they said were pro-Gadhafi fighters killed in a NATO air strike on Thursday.

A blackened four-wheel-drive vehicle that had been pulverized was to one side of the road, and some 20 meters (yards) away the fighters were burying the bodies wrapped in blankets.

"When we were advancing yesterday NATO struck ahead of us, and when we came forward we found the bodies," said one, Walid al-Juder.