NATO jets bomb Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte

NATO bombing raids hammered the Libyan city of Sirte yesterday to clear the way for fighters with the Libyan interim government who are trying to capture Muammar Gaddafi’s hometown.

But Gaddafi loyalists showed they were still a threat by attacking the desert oasis town of Ghadames, on the border with Algeria. The interim government said the attacks had been repulsed but some reports said fighting was still going on.

Earlier at the weekend, the forces of the National Transitional Council (NTC) had pushed to within a few hundred metres of the centre of Sirte — one of the last bastions of pro-Gaddafi resistance in Libya — but later drew back to let the NATO jets do their work.