Fierce fighting in the Libyan town of Bani Walid, as the interim ruling council forces try to dislodge Gaddafi loyalists from the desert stronghold.
This amateur video footage was recorded on Monday, and shows National Transitional Council fighters confronting suspected pro-Gaddafi snipers positioned on rooftops around the town.
Bani Walid, some 180 kilometres south of Tripoli, is the traditional home of Libya's largest and most powerful tribe, and has been the site of unexpectedly stiff resistance against NTC forces.
NTC field commanders said people in Bani Walid had been told via radio messages they had two days to leave town before it came under full-blown attack.
(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) NTC LOCAL MILITARY COMMANDER YASSIR ABDUL-RAHMAN:
"Bani Walid's situation is good today, NATO increased their activity today from 1a.m. to 5a.m., and God willing everything is improving. Families have been continuously leaving for the past five days."
Hundreds of residents began to leave on Monday and Tuesday as Gaddafi forces abandoned checkpoints on the outskirts of town, and the NTC handed out free petrol to help civilians' flight.
(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FATAH AL-HAMMADI, CIVILIAN FLEEING BANI WALID:
"There was random shooting. There were also clashes in the past two days in the streets of the city between the revolutionaries and those who are associated with the previous regime and Gaddafi's brigades."
Along with Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte on the Mediterranean, and Sabha in the southern desert, Bani Walid is one of the last remaining former regime strongholds.
Muammar Gaddafi's whereabouts remain unknown, and the NTC has said Libya cannot be declared fully "liberated" until the former leader is captured or killed.
Nick Rowlands, Reuters.
