Libyan fighters hunt Gaddafi loyalists in captured Bani Walid

Troops backed by Libya's transitional leadership reportedly fought Wednesday with loyalists of fugitive leader Moamer Gaddafi in the desert town of Bani Walid, a spokesman said, DPA reported.

"The clashes occurred during a massive-scale combing operation mounted by the revolutionaries in the valleys of Bani Walid," said Mahmoud Buras, a National Transitional Council spokesman for the town, in remarks quoted by Libyan website Qurnyanew.

The council troops said Monday they had captured Bani Walid, located 400 kilometres south-east of Tripoli, after weeks of on-and-off fighting.

The troops had been tipped off by a local shepherd who said he had seen five armoured vehicles belonging to Gaddafi loyalists kept in a valley in the north-western part of the town, said Buras.

In the ensuing fighting, the council forces destroyed two vehicles, killed their crew and captured one Gaddafi loyalist, while the others fled, he added.

Bani Walid was one of two last strongholds of Gaddafi after he was desposed in late August. The other is his hometown Sirte, where the council troops said Wednesday they were in control of 95 per cent of the port city.