Besieged Bani Walid residents given two days to flee

Libyan rebels battling the remnants of Gaddafi's forces in his remaining stronghold of Bani Walid have given residents there two days to leave before mounting a threatened assault.

The warning came on Tuesday amid fears for the fate of civilians trapped in the last redoubts of Gaddafi, dislodged from power and now on the run after 42 years as leader of the oil-rich nation.

"I think only 10 per cent of the people are Gaddafi supporters. They are fanatics. And the rest are waiting to be liberated. We have given them two more days to leave the city," Abumuslim Abdu, a fighter with the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC), was reported as saying by Reuters news agency.

Forces of the NTC that overran the capital, Tripoli, on August 23 have met unexpectedly stiff resistance in five days of fighting for Bani Walid, 180km southeast of Tripoli.

The town - along with Gaddafi's home city of Sirte on the Mediterranean coast and Sabha in the remote southern desert - counts among the last strongholds of the former regime.

Residents fleeing Bani Walid have reported days of intense firefights, and NATO warplanes were backing up NTC fighters with air strikes on pro-Gaddafi rocket positions.

Families trapped there for weeks started to slip out after Gaddafi forces abandoned some checkpoints on the outskirts, and dozens of cars packed with civilians streamed out of the area on Monday and Tuesday.

In the meantime, third son of the toppled leader Saadi Gaddafi  was transferred to the capital of Niger, Niamey, after being held in the city of Agadez after crossing the border along with other officials over the weekend.

Government spokesman Marou Amadou said just after midnight on Wednesday that Saadi Gaddafi was in Niamey.

Al Jazeera reports that he had been moved on a military aircraft under high security, and that he was moved in the cover of darkness to keep him away from the media. The news agency also reported that many photographers had their cameras confiscated by the military police.

Three generals in Gaddafi's army are also in Niamey trying to gain political asylum for themselves and other members of Gaddafi's crumbling regime. They were in negotiations with Nigerien officials all day on Tuesday.

The NTC wants regime officials to be sent back. Saadi Gaddafi is the subject of a UN sanction for commanding a military unit that is accused of repression of demonstrations.