26 Sep 2011

Sirte still under attack

9:20 am on 26 September 2011

NATO planes in Libya have been pounding Muammar Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte for a second consecutive day.

National Transitional Council fighters surround the city.

But their ground forces are holding back after a push into the heart of the city.

Correspondents say they have pulled back on the western side, while others await their marching orders east of the city.

Gaddafi loyalists have attacked the desert oasis town of Ghadames, on the border with Algeria.

The NTC says the attacks were repulsed, but some reports say fighting is still going on.

Mass grave found

Meanwhile in Tripoli, NTC officials say they have found a mass grave.

The site is believed to contain the remains 1270 people killed by security forces in a massacre at Abu Salim prison in 1996.

Excavation at the site is expected to start soon.

The NTC says it questioned guards who had worked there when the prisoners were killed after protesting against their conditions.

The BBC reports that little was known about the circumstances in which the prisoners died, until recently.