Muammar Qadhafi supporters rocketed a front line south of Tripoli on Friday, testing the patience of the new leaders as a grace period for the holdouts to surrender runs out.
Also on Friday, Interpol said it had issued its top most-wanted alert for the arrest of Mr. Qadhafi, his son Seif al-Islam and the country's ex-head of military intelligence, all sought by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.
Mr. Qadhafi hasn't been seen in public for months and went underground after anti-regime fighters swept into Tripoli on August 21.
As the National Transitional Council tries to establish its authority in Libya, speculation about Mr. Qadhafi's whereabouts has centred on his Mediterranean hometown of Sirte, southern Sabha, and Bani Walid, 140 km southeast of Tripoli.
Mr. Qadhafi loyalists in all three towns have been given until Saturday to surrender, or face an all-out battle.
On Friday, Qadhafi holdouts fired mortars and rockets from Bani Walid.
National Transitional Council forces around Bani Walid unloaded hundreds of boxes of ammunition and ordinance and reinforcements in gun-mounted trucks rushed toward the front line in the desert sand.
“Today marks the last day of the deadline,” said Abdel-Razak al-Nazouri, a commander in the region. “Our men are preparing for an attack, probably tomorrow.”
Preparing for war
Another transitional council fighter in the region, Osama al-Fassi, said: “We are preparing for war.” The transitional council fighters said they had captured 10 Qadhafi fighters they suspected were spying on them.
Dressed in fatigues, their hands tied behind their backs, the 10 were being held in two pickup trucks at the Wishtat checkpoint, about 30 km from Bani Walid.
