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Libyan forces renew battle for Gaddafi towns

Reuters, Bani Walid/sirte
Powerful explosions and machinegun fire shook the besieged Libyan desert town of Bani Walid yesterday as Gaddafi loyalists shelled lines held by interim government attackers.
Ill-organized forces of the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) have met strong resistance from the defenders of Gaddafi's last bastions in Bani Walid, the coastal city of Sirte and the town of Sabha, deep in the Libyan desert.
Meanwhile, rebels prepared to unveil a new government yesterday even as their troops met fierce resistance from loyalists of fugitive strongman Gaddafi in his last strongholds.
The new regime's military spokesman, Ahmed Bani, said Gaddafi die-hards in his hometown Sirte and the oasis of Bani Walid to its southwest would be defeated in a "matter of days," despite the intensity of the fighting.
Last-minute haggling delayed the
announcement of the new government line-up, a National Transitional Council official said.
"We fought all night. We have surrounded the city from all sides with a range of 40 km (25 miles),” anti-Gaddafi commander Absalim Gnuna told Reuters at the northern gate of Bani Walid, as his fighters took cover behind walls and vehicles.
Some fired back at the town using anti-aircraft guns, while Koranic verses blared from a vehicle to boost morale.
"We need to organize ourselves better because now we are not organized," said 50-year-old NTC fighter Jamal al-Gharyani, who served for years in Gaddafi's army before switching sides.
"To liberate Bani Walid, heavy artillery has to go in first followed by infantry — like everywhere else. Right now it is not exactly chaos, but many of our fighters have no experience so it's not so easy," he sighed.
Shells whistled above anti-Gaddafi positions and exploded across the
desert valley as invisible snipers sprayed bullets from Bani Walid's rooftops and smoke rose above the town.
NTC fighters captured a man hailing from neighbouring Chad in the open desert, accusing him ofbeinga Gaddafi gunman.
Shaking with fear, the man, who gave his name as Mohamed Ezzein, whispered that he had nothing to do with the war.
"I'm just a shepherd. What fighting? What fighting?" he repeated from the back of a pickup truck as anti-Gaddafi fighters pushed him around saying: "Don't lie, don't lie."
NTC forces renewed their push toward Sirte, Gaddafi's home town, after making little headway on Saturday, although they did seize the town of Herawa, 60 km to the east.
A doctor at a field hospital set up in a gas station on the western outskirts of Sirte said 16 anti-Gaddafi fighters and one ambulance driver had died in Saturday's fighting.