EAST OF SIRTE, Libya, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Libyan troops are unable to defeat forces loyal to deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi in the city of Sirte because the country's new rulers are failing to supply them with enough ammunition, fighters near the front line said on Tuesday.
In the latest reverse in weeks of chaotic fighting over Sirte, Gaddafi's birthplace and one of the last remaining bastions of his support, five anti-Gaddafi fighters were killed on Tuesday after they came under artillery fire.
More than a month after Gaddafi was swept from power, the interim government has still not stamped out the last pockets of resistance, prompting criticism over its lack of cohesion and raising fresh questions about whether it can run the oil exporting country effectively.
Fighters making their way back from the front line said they were meeting heavy resistance from loyalists at a place called Khamseen, 50 km (31 miles) east of Sirte, and were unable to respond because they lacked the firepower.
"The military base is not supporting us with enough ammunition," said Alnoufy Al-Ferjany, the commander of a military brigade called Martyrs of Alhawry.
He was at the hospital in Ras Lanuf, the nearest big settlement to the east of Sirte, after bringing in four of his comrades who were injured by mortar fire near Khamseen.
"We have presented a request but they have not responded and that is why we have a lot of people injured. We are on the front line and there isn't any ammunition. I experience this problem almost on a daily basis," Al-Ferjany told Reuters.
A Reuters reporter about 60 km (38 miles) to the east of Sirte, near the village of Harawa, saw ambulances and pick up trucks racing back from the front line, while artillery rounds fired by Gaddafi loyalists slammed into the ground.
In the back of one pick-up truck was a fighter with blood pouring from a head wound.
A small field hospital in Harawa had run out of space so three wounded fighters were being treated for wounds to their heads, legs and shoulders on stretchers outside.
---- Nem sequer toda a faixa litoral da Líbia caiu ainda em poder dos adversários de Khadafi. Quanto mais as terras situadas 290, 380, 860 quilómetros mais para sul, mais para o interior.
------ Será que alguns jornalistas nos irão pedir desculpas de coisas insensatas que andaram a escrever há 15 dias, sobre a "iminência da queda dos últimos bastiões" do coronel que foi abandonado pelos seus parceiros de há três/quatro anos?
------ Será que algumas televisões irão finalmente reconhecer que há uns 20 dias nos queriam levar ao engano, com o que andavam a anunciar e que não correspondia à realidade?
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