Libyan government fighters battled Sunday to subdue pocketsof resistance by pro-Gaddafi fighters, whose refusal to abandon the ousted leader'shometown of Sirte is delaying Libya's move to democracy.
Ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) forces kept uptheir bombardment of a small area in the center of Sirte but there was no pushunder way from ground troops.
NTC militia have besieged Sirte for weeks, slowly boxingGaddafi die-hards into an area about two square kilometers (a square mile).Green flags, the symbol of Gaddafi's rule, still fly over the area.
Some fighters expressed irritation with their commanders forfailing to order and advance and poor communication between brigades.
"There are no orders coming in even though we have thepower to push them out," Hesham al-Dafani, an NTC fighter, told Reuters."We don't know what's happening."
The failure to seize Sirte -- and the other remainingGaddafi holdout, Bani Walid -- has delayed Libya's democratic transition. Thecountry's new rulers say the process will only begin once Sirte is captured.
Fighting also continued in Bani Walid Sunday, Reutersreporters said, with sniper fire hindering an NTC advance into the city just asit has in Sirte.
Some fighters in Sirte said they suspected that the failureto order an advance was a result of NTC leaders not yet being ready to set outa roadmap for national elections.
Other fighters blamed the delay on a lack of communicationbetween different NTC militias in Sirte.
"We are civilians, we not military people," NTCfield commander, Mohammed al Sabty, said. "We don't have a certainplan."
NTC fighters continued to fire on an area known as NeighborhoodTwo and said they believed one of Gaddafi's sons, Mo'tassim, could be holed upthere.
"We know that Gaddafi's Mo'tassim is inside, that's whythey are fighting to the last drop of blood," commander Omar Abu Lifasaid. "We're surrounding that area. We are taking it slowly because wewant to catch him alive."
Some NTC sources told Reuters last week Mo'tassim, a formernational security advisor, had been captured as he tried to escape Sirte. Butthe ruling NTC has yet to officially confirm, or deny, the reports.
NTC officers say Gaddafi loyalists continue to hold outbecause they fear reprisals if they surrender. Some captured fighters have beenabused, rights groups say.
A doctor for the medical aid charity Medecins SansFrontieres in Sirte has estimated 10,000 people remain trapped in the city of75,000 residents. Many are women and children, some are sick or injured.
GADDAFI HOME BULLDOZED
Some political analysts say the long sieges of Sirte andBani Walid risk undermining the NTC which and frustrate its effort to controlthe whole country.
The often chaotic struggle for Sirte has killed scores ofpeople, left thousands homeless and laid waste to much of what was once ashowpiece Mediterranean city where Gaddafi enjoyed entertaining foreignleaders.
The dangers posed by the failure to capture Gaddafi werehighlighted Friday when fighting erupted in Tripoli between NTC forces andGaddafi-loyalists for the first time since he fled the city in August.
Government forces set up more roadblocks across the cityover the weekend, but especially in and around Abu Salim, an area of run-downapartment blocks where the clashes took place.
The area remained calm Sunday amid the heavy security but,nearby, a group of armed men with two bulldozers began demolishing the wallsaround Gaddafi's former home.
As the bulldozers set about the Bab al-Azizyah compound, aheavily fortified construction spread over 2.3 square miles that symbolized hisrepressive rule, men chanted, "God is greatest. This is for the blood ofthe martyrs."
Some fired machineguns into the air.
"We are destroying it because we want to demolish anythingthat belongs to Gaddafi," one gunman, Essam Sarag, told Reuters.
People driving past stopped their cars and joined a crowdwaving new Libyan flags.
"We will continue until we destroy everything thatbelongs to Gaddafi," said Etman Lelktah, who said he was in charge of thefighters at the scene.
"We ask that a peace organization be built instead ofGaddafi's place."