A total of 17 fighters of Libya's ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) were killed and another 227 injured on Friday in battles for Sirte, hometown of the fallen leader Muammar Gaddafi, sources from a nearby field hospital told Xinhua Saturday.

The NTC forces waged a major offensive towards Sirte on Friday, but encountered fierce resistance from the Gaddafi loyalists and suffered the largest casualties since battles for the town started.

The NTC fighters told Xinhua that Gaddafi loyalists deployed lots of snipers around the town and fought back with mortars, posing great threats to the NTC forces.

The NTC forces continued but slowed their attacks on Saturday, one of the NTC fighters, Faragi told Xinhua. The fighters took control of some streets in the town, and were searching for holed- up Gaddafi loyalists.

Dozens of mercenaries loyal to Gaddafi were captured on Saturday, Faragi said.

NTC military spokesman Ahmed Bani said Wednesday that the situation in Sirte had been under control and the NTC forces were expected to seize the town soon.

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