The NTC troops ran up against heavy shootings by snipers loyal to Gaddafi at Sirte's western entrance, while explosions could be heard from inside the town, which had witnessed weeks of clashes, reported a Xinhua photographer near Sirte.

At the demand of the international Red Cross members, the NTC fighters once stopped firing so the vehicles carrying the wounded could leave the war-torn town, he said.

Sirte has been running out of drinking water, electricity and adequate food supply with residents continuing to flee the stronghold.

In Tripoli, a source close to the NTC denied reports that Moussa Ibrahim, spokesman of the fallen Muammar Gaddafi administration, had been arrested.

The reports are completely untrue, and the spokesman is still at large, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. And the arrest was probably of one of Ibrahim's family members.

Xinhua