Libyan fighters inch forward in Gadhafi hometown

Revolutionary fighters struggled to make gains in an assault into Gadhafis hometown Saturday with bloody street-by-street battles against loyalist forces fiercely defending the most symbolic of the shattered regimes remaining strongholds.The fresh attack into the Mediterranean coastal city of Sirte contrasted with a stalemate in the mountain enclave of Bani Walid where demoralized anti-Gadhafi forces tried to regroup after being beaten back by loyalist snipers and gunners holding strategic high ground.Intense resistance has stalled forces of Libyas new leadership trying to crush the dug-in fighters loyal to Gadhafi, weeks after the former rebels swept into Tripoli on Aug. 21 and pushed the countrys leader out of power and into hiding. Sirte and Bani Walid are the main bastions of backers of the old regime in Libyas coastal plain, but smaller holdouts remain in the deserts of the center of the country — and another major stronghold, Sabha, lies in the deep south.The resistance has raised fears of a protracted insurgency of the sort that has played out in Iraq and Afghanistan, even as the transitional government tries to establish its authority and move toward eventual elections.A military spokesman for the transitional government said revolutionaries do not know Gadhafis location.Col. Ahmed Omar Bani pointed to the still uncollected bounty of nearly $2 million that the new leadership has put on the fugitive leaders head, saying, Up to now we dont have any certain information or intelligence about his whereabouts.Columns of black smoke rose over Sirte, as revolutionary fighters backed by heavy machine guns and rockets tried to push through crowded residential areas in the city. They claimed to have gained less than a mile into the city, along the main coastal highway leading in from the west.