Fighters loyal to Libya's interim government have taken the university area of Sirte, one of the strong points of the city's Gaddafi loyalists.

Hundreds of fighters could be seen entering the campus after what a National Transitional Council commander called "difficult" fighting.

NTC forces launched an offensive on Friday against Sirte, one of the last cities held by pro-Gaddafi forces. They came up against heavy weapons including tanks and artillery.

NTC forces said yesterday they took control of the airport in Bani Walid, one of the last two bastions of fighters loyal to Gaddafi.

"Our forces have taken control of the airport of Bani Walid," located in the desert town's southwest, Yunes Mussa, commander of the National Transitional Council forces in the

region, toldAFP.

The university area, along with the Ouagadougou conference centre and an apartment complex, saw particularly fierce resistance to the advance into Col Muammar Gaddafi's home city, reports BBC.

The sprawling conference centre is also reported to have fallen to the NTC. Thousands of civilians are said to remain trapped in the city, many of them fearful of retaliation by NTC forces.

Once Sirte falls, the NTC say they will declare national liberation, even if Col Gaddafi remains on the run. "We have taken the university... we have liberated the area from Gaddafi's dogs," NTC commander Nasser Zamud said yesterday.

"The fighting has been difficult. There were a lot of snipers."

Video showed one injured fighter at he campus, hobbling after his com-

rades with a crutch in one hand and a Kalashnikov assault rifle in the other.

On Friday, NTC forces had launched what they called a final assault on Sirte, pushing pro-Gaddafi fighters back from their positions and towards the city centre.

But on Saturday, their rapid advance slowed down as they fought street by street to take control of the city, Libya's symbolic second capital under Gaddafi.

By the end of the day, they had taken control of a key boulevard which connects the Ouagadougou centre to the city centre.

Civilians continued to leave Sirte on foot and by car over the weekend. NTC forces stopped and searched them at checkpoints.

On Thursday, Col Gaddafi delivered an audio message urging Libyans to take to the streets "in their millions" to resist the interim leaders.