SIRTE, Libya — Libyan revolutionary forces claimed to have captured parts of a sprawling convention center that loyalists of Moammar Khadafy have used as their main base in the ousted leader’s hometown and were shelling the city to try to rout snipers from rooftops in their offensive aimed at crushing this key bastion of the old regime.
The inability to take Sirte, the most important remaining stronghold of Khadafy supporters, more than six weeks after the capital fell has stalled efforts by Libya’s new leaders to set a timeline for elections and move forward with a transition to democracy.
Khadafy supporters also hold the enclave of Bani Walid, where revolutionary forces have been stymied by a challenging terrain. The transitional leadership has said it will declare liberation after Sirte’s capture because that will mean it holds all of the seaports and harbors in the oil-rich Mediterranean coastal country.
British Defense Secretary Liam Fox pledged to keep up NATO airstrikes even after Sirte’s fall, saying the international military action would continue as long as the remnants of the regime pose a risk to the people of Libya.
“We have a message for those who are still fighting for Khadafy that the game is over, you have been rejected by the people of Libya,” he told reporters Saturday in Tripoli before flying to Misrata.
Revolutionary forces began a major attack on Sirte on Friday after a three- week siege from the outskirts of the coastal city, during which they said they were giving civilians time to flee. On Saturday, fighters fired rockets into the city from the backs of pickup trucks, though visibility was severely limited by a sandstorm.
Libya’s de facto leader, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the head of the governing National Transitional Council, said the battle for Sirte has been “ferocious,” with 15 revolutionary fighters killed and 180 wounded Friday.
“Our fighters today are still dealing with the snipers positioned on the high buildings, and we sustained heavy casualties,” he said at a joint news conference in Tripoli with Fox and Italian Defense Secretary Ignazio La Russa.
Abdel-Basit Haroun, a revolutionary field commander, said 32 people had been killed in two days of fighting, while the military council in the nearby city of Misrata, which has sent many fighters to Sirte, reported 80 wounded.
The council said revolutionary forces were attacking houses to try to eliminate the “overwhelming hordes of snipers out there.” Sirte, 250 miles southeast of Tripoli, is key to the physical unity of the nation of about 6 million people because it lies roughly in the center of the coastal plain where most Libyans live, blocking the easiest routes between east and west.
Mohammed al-Rajali, spokesman for the brigades attacking the city from the east, said the fighters have gained control of the Ouagadougou Convention Center, an ornate complex in the city center that Khadafy frequently used for international summits. But they were meeting heavy resistance from villas behind the building.
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Yemen’s opposition cast doubt that the embattled leader was serious.
Saleh spoke at a gathering of lawmakers, his hands encased in beige medical gloves for the treatment of burns from the bombing of his presidential palace in June. He didn’t shake hands with any of his guests.
“I never wanted power. I will reject power in the coming days. I will give it up,” he said. “But there are men who will take power. There are men who are true to their pledges, whether military or civilians, who will take power. They can never destroy the country.”
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