Fighting rages in 8216;final assault8217; on Gaddafi hometown

Heavy bombardment also continued from overnight at the Ouagadougou conference centre.

Sirte was rocked by deadly street fighting today in what troops from the new regime said was the final assault on Muammar Gaddafi8217;s besieged hometown,with orders that they take it 8220;today8221;.

As ambulances continued to stream in to a field hospital on the west side of Sirte,an AFP reporter saw nine bodies,and quoted medics as saying another 115 people had been wounded.

There were no immediate casualty figures from the eastern side of the Mediterranean city,360 kilometres east of Tripoli.

Street fighting and heavy bombardment was continuing from overnight at the Ouagadougou conference centre,a major stronghold of pro-Gaddafi forces,on the western edge of the city.

Plumes of black smoke could be seen billowing up from several points in city,amid the sound of machine-gun fire and explosions.

NATO planes flew overhead,but there were no reports of air strikes.

National Transitional Council fighter Barak Abu Hajar told AFP he had been in action earlier at the Ouagadougou centre and had brought out a wounded comrade.

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8220;They8217;re shooting from everywhere. RPGs and lots of bullets. We were told this was the final assault. Inshallah God willing we will take Sirte today.8221;

Fighter Faisal Asker said,8221;We entered the Ouagadougou centre compound but fell back because of RPG and sniper fire. There8217;s no cover there.8221;

8220;We have orders to finish the mission today.8221;

At the field hospital,just a couple of kilometres away from the Ouagadougou centre,the AFP reporter said ambulances with wailing sirens were arriving every couple of minutes.

A man with loud hailer,joined by others,shouted 8220;Allahu akbar8221; God is greatest every time a patient was stretchered inside the derelict building housing the hospital.

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A white minivan arrived and a crowd gathered round in prayer.

Inside there were four bodies wrapped in grey blankets,tied with white tape and a large white sticker giving their names.

The reporter saw five other dead,including the remains wrapped in a blanket of one person whose body medics said had been blown apart by shrapnel.

Earlier,officials at a field hospital 50 kilometres west of Sirte said 18 injured anti-Gaddafi fighters had been brought in,most of them with shrapnel wounds.

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Another AFP correspondent said there were particularly violent clashes around and inside the university,near the city centre,and in the Mauritanian Quarter.

Fighting on Sirte8217;s northeastern front erupted yesterday morning after Gaddafi diehards advanced under the cover of darkness.

By midday,NTC fighters had halted the pro-Gaddafi assault and were advancing on foot among the buildings,in the face of rocket and sniper fire.

Last night,the Ali Nuri Sbag Brigade advanced nearly a kilometre,bringing them close to the north-south thoroughfare that forms a pro-Gaddafi stronghold,the correspondent said.