REVOLUTIONARY FORCES ARE are pulling back their fighters from outside a key loyalist stronghold after coming under fierce resistance from supporters of Muammar Gaddafi.

The retreat by anti-Gaddafi forces displayed the firepower and resolve of regime loyalists in turning back the offensive today in Bani Walid, about 140kms southeast of Tripoli.

Revolutionary units are now trying to regroup on the outskirts of the town after facing snipers, mortar attacks and rocket barrages as they tried to break into the central part of Bani Walid.

The battle came as other forces tried to push into the heart of Gaddafi’s hometown Sirte on the Mediterranean coast.

Earlier today, the Libyan forces had escalated twin offensives against Gaddafi’s troops in his hometown of Sirte and the Bani Walid mountain enclave where a pro-regime radio station is based.

Al Jazeera is reporting at least 11 deaths among National Transitional Council forces.

“We have received orders to retreat. We have been hit by many rockets. We will come back later,” NTC fighter, Assad Al Hamuri, told Reuters.

On the diplomatic front, the White House has confirmed that US President Barack Obama will meet with Libya’s interim leader, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, on Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

After David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy’s high profile visit yesterday, today was the turn of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

He joined Friday prayers in Tripoli and told those in Martyrs’ Square that they had “shown the whole world that no one can stand befre the power and the will of the people”.

-Additional reporting by AP