Libyan rebels face stiff resistance in battle for Sirte

Libyan fighters are continuing their push to capture Sirte Libyan fighters are continuing their push to capture Sirte, the home city of toppled leader Muammar Gaddafi.Libyan revolutionary forces claimed to have captured parts of a sprawling convention centre that loyalists of Moammar Gadhafi 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 AP reported.
National Transitional Council (NTC) forces managed to take control of a central neighbourhood as well as a main road on Saturday, but faced stiff resistance from Gaddafi loyalists.
Fighting was raging for the Ouagadougou conference centre, which is believed to house the command centre of Gaddafi's forces, Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr reported from the outskirts of the city.
"Loyalists are not only using small arms fire and snipers to slow the advance, they're also firing mortars to prevent anti-Gaddafi forces from taking control of this strategic complex," she said.
But NTC fighters made progress elsewhere, capturing the nearby Sabamiyah neighbourhood.
"Most of the people living here were commanders and officers in Gaddafi's army," Khodr said.