Libyan fighters launch fresh assault on Kadafi’s hometown

Forces of Libya’s provisional government launched a renewed assault Saturday on Moammar Kadafi’s hometown, meeting fierce sniper, mortar and rocket fire from the bastion of support for the ousted leader.

Attackers reached a key intersection near the center of the coastal city of Surt by sunset, but were slowed by resistance from pro-Kadafi forces, reported the pan-Arab satellite network Al Jazeera.

Television video showed tanks firing and explosions going off in the city as fighters crouched behind vehicles and buildings for cover along the streets of Surt, which has been under siege for more than a week.

The Associated Press quoted a doctor at a field hospital outside the city saying that eight revolutionary government fighters were killed Saturday and almost 80 wounded, mostly from shrapnel.

The troops have been positioning tanks, artillery, antiaircraft guns and other weapons for a new push toward Surt. An initial offensive last week was repelled.

Libya’s provisional rulers had given Surt’s defenders until Saturday to surrender or face an all-out attack by forces that have the city virtually surrounded. There was no sign of capitulation from defenders in the city, which is about 230 miles east of Tripoli, the capital.

Civilians have been fleeing Surt, once a city of about 100,000 people, and shortages of food, gasoline and other staples are now reported. Kadafi loyalist militias controlled the streets, fleeing residents said. The city has been largely cut off from the outside world.

Reports indicated that NATO warplanes were heard overhead as the fighters advanced. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has mounted a months-long air war under a United Nations resolution aimed at protecting civilians. Kadafi stalwarts have accused NATO of acting as an air force for the revolutionary fighters.

During a 24-hour period ending Saturday, warplanes struck an ammunition storage facility, an antiaircraft gun, a command-and-control center and two armed vehicles that had been used “to threaten the civilian population” of Surt, NATO said in a statement.

NATO cited reports from Surt of “executions, hostage-taking and the calculated targeting of individuals, families and communities within the city.”

Former rebels loyal to Libya’s transitional administration have said they would do everything possible to avoid more civilian casualties. But both sides are using Grad rockets and other weapons systems known for inaccuracy.

More than six months of fighting in Libya has left at least 30,000 people dead, officials say.

Rebel forces took Tripoli last month after several days of fighting. Kadafi remains a fugitive but has called on his supporters to mount a guerrilla war against Libya’s new leaders.

Surt is one of two major strongholds still in the hands of Kadafi loyalists. The other is the city of Bani Walid, a tribal enclave southeast of Tripoli, where loyalist defenders routed the attackers.

Libya’s provisional government says it has almost complete control of another former pro-Kadafi redoubt, the desert town of Sabha, a Sahara crossroads about 400 miles south of Tripoli.

Stiff resistance from Kadafi loyalists in Surt and Bani Walid has raised fear of a long-term insurgency in Libya, similar to those in Iraq and Afghanistan after rulers were toppled.

Libya’s transitional leaders say the entire country must be freed of Kadafi’s forces before a timetable can be set for elections and the writing of a constitution. They have vowed that the armed opposition will soon be crushed.

patrick.mcdonnell@latimes.com