Government forces on the other side of the city, Muammar Qaddafi’s home town, broke weeks of deadlock by pushing into a district of Sirte where their commanders had said they believed one of Qaddafi’s sons, Mo’atassem, was hiding.

In Tripoli, the man convicted of the 1988 bombing of a US-bound airline over the Scottish town of Lockerbie told Reuters in an interview his role had been exaggerated and that the truth behind the bombing would emerge soon.

Aid agencies say they are concerned about the welfare of civilians inside Sirte, one of the last pro-Qaddafi bastions left in the country, who are trapped by the fighting and running out of food, water, fuel and medical supplies.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) took some supplies into Sirte last week, and it tried again on Monday, assembling a convoy of two trucks carrying aid, and accompanied by two four-wheel drive vehicles.

The convoy set off from a bridge a few kilometers west of Sirte but came to a halt after only about 100 meters because interim government forces started firing into the city.

They fired a heavy barrage of mortar bombs, artillery, rocket-propelled grenades and anti-aircraft weapons just as the convoy was starting to move. The ICRC convoy turned around and headed back west, away from Sirte.

An anti-Qaddafi commander at the scene, Ismail Al-Sosi, told Reuters: “The rebels secured the way for the International Red Cross to go but as soon as they entered the city they returned because of the (pro-Qaddafi) militias firing. We did not start the firing. The militias started the firing.” However, a Reuters team who witnessed the incident, said they saw no incoming fire from the Qaddafi loyalists inside Sirte.

Speaking just before the aborted attempt to get supplies into the city, an ICRC official said the humanitarian situation there was dire.

“We’re trying to provide medical assistance and oxygen to the hospital in Sirte,” said Hishem Khadrawy. “We are really concerned about the medical situation because of the conflict.” GOVERNMENT ADVANCE Government forces who had for weeks been pinned down by artillery and rocket fire on the eastern edge of Sirte were able to advance several kilometers into the city, capturing the southern district of Bouhadi.

Commanders with the interim government, the National Transitional Council (NTC), had earlier said they believed one of Qaddafi’s sons was in the district.

“The army has fled,” said NTC fighter Hussein Al-Mazeq.

A Reuters reporter at a traffic circle in the center of Bouhadi said the NTC forces appeared to be in control, though they said there were isolated pockets where loyalists fighters were still holed up.

Government fighters loaded their pick-up trucks with items taken from houses in the district, including carpets and chairs.

On the way in to Bouhadi, the streets were deserted apart from some burned-out cars and tank shell casings. Billboards which had shown images of Muammar Qaddafi were torn down.

A group of NTC fighters headed out of the city on foot carrying a haul of rocket-propelled grenades, Kalashnikov rifles, boxes of ammunition and pairs of new army boots. They said they found them in the homes of Qaddafi supporters.

“We took them from Muammar, Allahu Akbar! (God is Greatest),” one of the fighters shouted.

Medical staff outside Sirte who had treated wounded civilians fleeing the fighting on Monday said they had been told the corridors were full of patients and that treatment was being given only to pro-Qaddafi fighters or members of Qaddafi’s tribe.

“There is a section for civilians and a section for the (pro-Qaddafi) brigades. They are only treating the brigades and leaving the normal people,” one member of an ambulance crew told Reuters. That account was repeated by a doctor at a field hospital near the city.

With Libya’s rulers focusing on the battles for Sirte and Bani Walid, a power vacuum has emerged.

The interim government is nominally in charge, but real power on the ground is exercised by armed anti-Qaddafi militias who are jockeying for influence in the new Libya.

The chairman of the NTC, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, announced a minor reshuffle of his team, but kept the crucial portfolios of oil and foreign affairs unchanged.