SIRTE, Libya - Revolutionary fighters fired rockets at Moammar Gadhafi's hometown and traded gunfire with loyalist forces, sending up clouds of white smoke, as forces of Libya's new rulers struggle to seize control of strongholds that remain loyal to the fugitive leader.
Sporadic battles also broke out to the east in Bani Walid as poorly equipped former rebels grouped at the town's northern gate tried to fight their way into town but were blasted by mortar shells and machine-gun fire.
The political scene was chaotic. A spokesman for the country's transitional government, Jalal al-Gallal, said efforts to form a new Cabinet have stalled over complaints that some cities felt underrepresented. Leaders of the National Transitional Council failed Sunday to fill a 36-member Cabinet because of disagreements over some proposed members, dashing hopes of showing progress in forming a new government before the U.N. General Assembly meets this week.
The head of the NTC, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, and premier Mahmoud Jibril flew to New York to represent Libya at the General Assembly after the Cabinet talks broke down on Sunday .
The new leadership is facing a tough fight uprooting the remnants of Gadhafi's regime nearly four weeks after the then-rebels rolled into Tripoli on Aug. 21 and ousted the authoritarian leader.
Fighting in Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte, 400 kilometres southeast of Tripoli, ebbed by Monday afternoon. Revolutionary forces said they were waiting to launch another full assault after being routed by Gadhafi's forces two days earlier. At least 25 former rebels were killed and more than 50 wounded on Saturday.
The fighters push into the city in the morning but withdraw at night, forcing them to battle their way in each day.
"We can't stay at night in the city because Gadhafi cut the electricity and they know their own city," revolutionary fighter Lotfi al-Amin said. "We stay outside and then push in."
Al-Amin, a 37-year-old former postal worker who is now the head of a sniper unit, said the fighters also were concerned about a number of families from the city of Misrata who had been living in a Sirte neighbourhood and were trapped.
He claimed Gadhafi's forces surrounded the neighbourhood and killed five boys they kidnapped.
"The first thing we have to do is get the Misrata families out, then we can use all the firepower we have," he said.
Pro-Gadhafi fighters also fired anti-aircraft guns at revolutionary forces holding the northern gate of Bani Walid, another loyalist stronghold, for a second day Monday, as frustration with weeks of halting advances grows among the former rebel ranks.
The official, trained military of the National Transitional Council, Libya's interim government, pulled away from Bani Walid to regroup and reinforce for a new assault after they were heavily beaten in the city Friday. That has left bands of ragtag, undisciplined fighters on the front line. These include fighters as young as 18 who spend hours smoking hash, shooting at plastic bottles, arguing with one another and sometimes just firing wildly into the streets out of apparent boredom.
When they decide to enter the town, they charge in half a dozen pickup trucks, only to retreat a short while later.
On Monday, three of their cars rode right into an ambush by Gadhafi forces on a street none of the outsiders was familiar with. One of their fellow fighters, Wassim Rajab, said he heard from comrades that four of them were killed.
Describing another typical attempt, fighter Lutfi al-Shibly from Libya's western mountains, said, "We entered the city, 600 metres from the city centre, but we didn't have enough forces, so we lost the position and had to retreat."
Revolutionary commanders were meeting with the leaders of the rebel brigades on Monday to try to rein in the chaotic fighting and organize ranks before a new push on the town, military spokesman Tarek Hadoud told The Associated Press.
Late Sunday, Gadhafi spokesman Moussa Ibrahim charged that revolutionary fighters have killed "hundreds every day." He told the Syrian Al-Rai TV station, which has become the Gadhafi mouthpiece, "Sirte is the symbol of resistance in Libya." He did not say where he or Gadhafi were.
He also claimed that Gadhafi fighters captured 17 mercenaries from France, Britain and Qatar near Bani Walid. Britain's Foreign Office said it was aware of Ibrahim's claims but had no evidence that they were correct.
