BANI WALID, Libya (Reuters) – Forces loyal to Libya’s new rulers surged into the desert town of Bani Walid on Friday in a fierce attack on one of the last strongholds still in the hands of Muammar Gaddafi loyalists that could prove a major turning point in the war.

Explosions and gunfire echoed over the hills surrounding the town, which has been under siege for two weeks, with hundreds of die-hard supporters of the country’s fugitive former ruler concentrated around its center.

NORTH OF BANI WALID, Libya (Reuters) – Columns of anti-Gaddafi forces sped towards Bani Walid on Friday after their position came under attack and one of their number said they were planning to take the town, one of the last bastions of support for the ousted Libyan leader.

“We have received orders from our commanders and we are going into Bani Walid today from different locations,” anti-Gaddafi fighter Mohammed Jwaida told Reuters at a factory 20 km (15 miles) north of the city, where the rebels were dug in.

NORTH GATE OF BANI WALID, Libya (Reuters) – Worn out after weeks without proper food and water, refugees gushing out of one of Muammar Gaddafi’s last strongholds implored fighters backing Libya’s new rulers to hurry up and rescue their families trapped inside the beleaguered town.

One of the last flashpoints in Libya’s seven-month war, the desert town of Bani Walid has been under siege for two weeks, with die-hard Gaddafi loyalists dug into its steep valleys and hills, stoutly resisting advancing interim government troops.

NORTH OF BANI WALID, Libya (Reuters) – Fighters loyal to Libya’s new rulers will resort to heavy weapons to capture a desert outpost held by Muammar Gaddafi’s forces if needed, a military commander said on Wednesday, urging civilians to flee.

Daw Saleheen, who is heading regional forces battling for control of Bani Walid, said Gaddafi loyalists had positioned rockets and mortar launchers on civilian houses in the town, 180 km (110 miles) south of Tripoli.

NORTH GATE OF BANI WALID, Libya, Sept 14 (Reuters) – Libyan
fighters handed out free petrol to help hundreds of civilians
flee a desert town held by Muammar Gaddafi’s forces ahead of an
onslaught aimed at capturing one of the ousted ruler’s last
bastions.

Complaining of hardship and intimidation, residents of Bani
Walid headed to nearby towns or started the 180 km (112-mile)
journey north towards Tripoli on Tuesday in cars packed with
children and possessions.

NORTH GATE OF BANI WALID, Libya, Sept 13 (Reuters) -
Hundreds of Libyans fled a desert town held by Muammar Gaddafi’s
forces on Tuesday, complaining of hardship and intimidation, as
fighters backed by the country’s new rulers warned of a full
onslaught in the coming days.

Forces of the new ruling National Transitional Council (NTC)
that overran Tripoli on Aug. 23 have met unexpectedly stout
resistance in five days of fighting for the town of Bani Walid
180 km (110 miles) southeast of the capital.

NORTH GATE OF BANI WALID, Libya, Sept 13 (Reuters) – Libyan
transitional forces besieging a bastion of forces loyal to
Muammar Gaddafi on Tuesday gave residents two days to leave
before a threatened onslaught, and fears rose for the fate of
civilians trapped in the last redoubts of the fallen strongman.

Forces of the new ruling National Transitional Council (NTC)
that overran Tripoli on August 23 have met unexpectedly stout
resistance in five days of fighting for the town of Bani Walid
180 km (110 miles) southeast of the capital.

NORTHERN GATE OF BANI WALID, Libya, Sept 13 (Reuters) – Wary
of alienating a powerful local tribe, fighters backing Libya’s
new rulers are urging families to leave the besieged town of
Bani Walid before resorting to full-scale military force to
retake one of Muammar Gaddafi’s last strongholds.

The drawn-out standoff at the town — home of Libya’s
biggest tribe, the Warfalla — has turned the obscure oasis 150
km (90 miles) south of Tripoli into a new flashpoint in the
North African nation’s seven-month-long war.

NEAR BANI WALID (Reuters) – Most residents of the besieged pro-Muammar Gaddafi town of Bani Walid who managed to get out and drive through the provisional government checkpoints know what to say.

They support the rebels, they tell the heavily-armed men who are now just 2kms away from the town center. Gaddafi was a tyrant who had to go. Congratulations on toppling him.

TRIPOLI/OUTSIDE BANI WALID, Libya (Reuters) – - Libya’s new rulers said on Sunday their fighters were holding back an assault on one of the last bastions loyal to Muammar Gaddafi after fighting their way into the town and finding civilians in peril.

Southern neighbour Niger said one of the fugitive former leader’s sons, Saadi Gaddafi, had turned up there after crossing the remote Sahara desert frontier.