Fighting to the finish in Sirte.
Libyan transitional government forces are keeping up the fight as they say they had cornered Muammar Gaddafi loyalists in a small area in the center of the deposed leader's hometown.
Some say the end is in sight.
SOUNDBITE: Government Forces Colonel Ashur Khashmi, saying (Arabic):
"We have moved forward and we are almost in the center of the city, we still have a little resistance and it will be over soon."
In just one field hospital to the east of the city, doctors say they had received 17 dead and 87 wounded in Sunday's fighting. There were dozens more casualties elsewhere.
Anti-Gaddafi forces captured the capital Tripoli on Aug. 23 after six months of civil war. That ended Muammar Gaddafi's 42 year rule -- but did not end the war,
NTC forces have since struggled to take Sirte and a few other leftover bastions of Gaddafi loyalists.
NTC forces have repeatedly claimed to be on the point of victory in Sirte, only to suffer sudden reversals at the hands of a tenacious enemy fighting for its life, surrounded on three sides and with its back to the sea.
Inside the city the relentless sound of war.
Sirte holds symbolic significance because Gaddafi turned it from a fishing village into a second capital. He built opulent villas, hotels and conference halls to house the international summits. Now homes are ablaze. Buildings stand in ruins.
As the battle goes on government fighters have captured those they say are Gaddafi loyalists.
The only other major town in the hands of Gaddafi loyalists, Bani Walid in the interior desert to the south, is also under siege.
The hope for the new government is once the battle for Sirte ends, the country's leaders can begin setting up a national government and restart oil production which is the lifeblood of the Libyan economy.
Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters.
