US secretary of state Hillary Clinton arrived in Libya today to meet the new leaders Washington helped into power, but die-hard forces loyal to Muammar Gadafy launched a surprise counter-attack in his hometown of Sirte.
The visit by Mrs Clinton, the most senior US official to come Tripoli since Col Gadafy's 42-year rule was ended, was marked by tight security, reflecting worries that the new rulers have yet to establish full control over the country.
US officials said Mrs Clinton's visit was aimed at cementing a partnership with the new government and helping it steer towards democracy. Clinton would encourage the National Transitional Council to fulfill pledges to move swiftly towards elections.
"The important thing is to be able to show the Libyan people that there is momentum," a senior administration official traveling with Mrs Clinton said.
"We're pushing the (NTC) to be able to show the Libyan people that they're serious in their commitments to transition, that they're serious in their commitments to rule of law, that they're serious about getting to those elections."
Washington is also offering Libya practical help to contain the thousands of weapons flooding the country in the wake of the war to oust Col Gadafy. Security experts say these could fall into the hands of al-Qaeda.
The United States took part in the Nato bombing campaign that helped the NTC take power, although its aircraft largely played a secondary role to Britain and France.
Nearly two months since capturing Tripoli, the NTC has failed to defeat remaining Gadafy loyalists, raising questions about its ability to exert its authority over the entire country and postponing the launch of its promised democracy programme.
Mrs Clinton arrived as the interim government was facing a military reverse in Sirte, a city on the Mediterranean coast where a few days ago it was poised to declare victory over pro-Gadafy forces.
Sirte is now the last major Libyan town where pro-Gadafy forces are holding out, after the other bastion of resistance, Bani Walid, fell to the country's new rulers on yesterday.
Col Gadafy loyalists who had been cornered in a an area of Sirte of about two square kilometres (a square mile) appeared to have broken out of their encirclement, Reuters reporters in the city said. A group of NTC fighters was forced to pull back about two km after they came under heavy fire.
The force was trying to regroup near the Ouagadougou conference centre – the complex where Col Gadafy used to host foreign heads of state - but were pinned down.
A volley of 22 mm rounds from Col Gadafy loyalists thudded into the group, hitting four vehicles and seriously wounding one NTC fighter. He was loaded into an ambulance and driven away. On the southern outskirts of the city, in an area that in previous days had been safe from gunfire, mortars were landing and air-burst rounds were exploding overhead.
The scene was in marked contrast to events earlier this week, when Col Gadafy loyalists offered little resistance as NTC forces pummelled them with tank fire and mortars.
Libya's new rulers were so confident of their imminent victory in the town that NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil visited Sirte last week and was greeted by fighters firing triumphantly into the air.
Finishing off the pro-Gadafy forces, even though they are now reduced to a rump of die-hard fighters, has proved difficult. NTC troops say loyalists use the cover of darkness to sneak out of their encirclement and then open fire.
But the NTC effort - spearheaded by mostly amateur fighters in a hotch-potch of volunteer units - has been hampered by a lack of coordination.
Units from Benghazi in eastern Libya and Misrata to the west have lost men because they have fired at each other by mistake instead of at the Gadafy loyalists.
Libya's new authorities took power nearly two months ago when an armed rebellion, with support from Nato missiles and warplanes, broke Col Gadafy's grip on the capital, Tripoli, and ended his utocratic rule.
Col Gadafy is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of ordering the killing of civilians. He is in hiding, possibly deep in Libya's Sahara desert.
The capture of Sirte is vital to the NTC, because it will mark the establishment of at least nominal control over all Libya's territory. The NTC has also said the fall of Sirte would be the signal for the process to begin creating a fully-fledged government and building democratic institutions.
That process though is fraught with risks for Libya because it will involve finding a way to divide up power between rival groups, many of them armed, who are impatient for a stake in the new Libya.
Reuters