Clashes Flare as NTC Fighters Mass at Gadhafi Strongholds

Former rebel fighters clashed on Sunday with pro-Moammar Gadhafi forces at the oasis town of Bani Walid and were closing in on Sirte, poised for all-out assaults on the fallen leader's remaining strongholds.

Medics said at least two fighters were killed and 12 wounded in the skirmishes on the outskirts of Bani Walid, near to where forces loyal to Libya's new rulers were massed, waiting for the final signal to storm the town.

Interim leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil on Saturday gave the green light to attack Bani Walid southeast of Tripoli, Gadhafi’s hometown Sirte to the east and Sabha in the deep south after declaring the deadline for pro-Gadhafi enclaves to surrender over.

While united on the front lines, political tensions were however beginning to show between the ex-rebels in a number of regions, including in west Libya where fighting between anti-Gadhafi rival groups left 12 people dead, officials said.

Streams of National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters backed by armored vehicles mounted with anti-aircraft guns arrived during the day on the edge of Bani Walid, 180 kilometers from Tripoli, an Agence France Presse correspondent said.

The fighters said they had routed Gadhafi loyalists and snipers from Wadi Dinar, a valley in the shadow of Bani Walid, as they pushed towards the oasis.

Clashes broke out in the afternoon in the Bani Walid neighborhoods of al-Mansila and al-Hawasim, according to fighter Ahmed al-Warfalli, who added that heavy weapons were used.

Military commanders insisted that the main assault had yet to begin, however.

"Today we are still on standby and waiting for orders," said one commander, General Atiya Ali Tarhuni.

A pro-Gadhafi radio station all afternoon broadcast an appeal to residents to rally against the attackers.

"Go out on the streets to protect Warfalla, they are coming to kill us," it said, referring to the main tribe in the area.

"They want to spread corruption and destruction everywhere. Go today, today, today -- now you are armed there is no excuse. This is the time for jihad (holy warfare)."

By evening, ambulances were rushing to and from the front line, as paramedics reported two fighters killed and 12 wounded -- shot by snipers or injured in explosions.

An emergency services doctor operating a field clinic in the hamlet of Wishtata, 40 kilometers from Bani Walid, said most of the wounded were treated for "sniper shots and explosions."

"There are Gadhafi military people in the heights of Bani Walid shooting down at rebels," said the doctor, Mehdi Barout.

After dark a pickup truck arrived with four men the fighters said were pro-Gadhafi prisoners. They were locked in a room at the clinic.

Similar skirmishes on Friday night saw four NTC fighters killed and 26 wounded.

Another AFP correspondent said that to the west of Sirte, around 200 pickup trucks with mounted light artillery gathered before dawn in the desert and began moving south, cutting through a string of villages to the west and southwest, where they met no resistance.

Armed with Katyusha and Grad rockets, anti-aircraft guns and heavy machine guns, they ripped down pro-Gadhafi flags en route, and were met by villagers flashing victory signs and shouting "Allahu Akbar (God is greatest)."

"We will not fire unless we are fired upon," said Ahmed al-Akhtal, from the al-Jebel Brigade.

NTC leader Abdul Jalil arrived on Saturday to a red-carpet welcome at Tripoli's Metiga military base where he was mobbed by hundreds of supporters.

The visit, his first to Tripoli since his forces seized the city last month, was eagerly awaited in the hope that it would help tackle rivalries emerging among rebel groups that overthrew the fugitive Gadhafi.

Abdul Jalil said the NTC "has mapped out a path and we hope that Libyans understand that we have to move along this path fast and that it is no time for revenge."

Many NTC members, including half of the executive committee, moved to Tripoli after it fell late last month, but Abdul Jalil and his deputy Mahmoud Jibril were slow to arrive in the capital.

He is expected to tackle political tensions already surfacing between the capital Tripoli and other NTC strongholds, particularly the second-largest city Benghazi, which was the rebels' wartime base, and the third-largest city Misrata, which endured a prolonged siege by Gadhafi forces.

Anti-Gadhafi fighters in Misrata have started to challenge NTC authority, refusing to turn over abandoned tanks as requested by interim leaders.

In western Libya, at least 12 people were killed and 16 wounded when two groups of fighters opposed to Gadhafi turned on each other, two officials said on Sunday.

The fighting, which pitted combatants from the towns of Gharyan and Kikla on the one side and from Asabah on the other, broke out on Saturday during a dispute over ownership of heavy weapons, according to the chief of the Gharyan council and confirmed by the head of the military council of Asabah.

The whereabouts of Gadhafi himself remain a mystery. The NTC fears that he may try to slip across one of Libya's porous borders.