Latest developments in Libyan conflict

Anti-Gadhafi fighters man a checkpoint north of Bani Walid September 27, 2011.[Photo/Agencies]

Sept 27 - Following are the latest political and military developments in the Libyan crisis.

* A Libyan commander leading the attack on Muammar Gadhafi's home town of Sirte said on Tuesday he was in talks with elders inside the city about a truce, but the head of another anti-Gadhafi unit rejected negotiations.

*Libya's new rulers and residents of the capital on Tuesday asked fighters who flooded into Tripoli to overthrow Gadhafi to leave, saying their presence could destabilise the country.

*Libya's first crude oil cargo to be shipped in months sailed from the eastern port of Marsa el Hariga on September 25 bound for Italy, Libya's port authority chief told Reuters.

*Libya's interim rulers have taken full control of the country's stockpile of chemical weapons and nuclear material from forces loyal to Gadhafi, NATO officials said on Tuesday.

*Fighters loyal to Libya's interim government controlled the eastern portion of Sirte, Gadhafi's home town and one of the last bastions supporting him, Al-Jazeera TV reported.

*More than a hundred employees of Libya's National Oil Company protested outside its offices in Tripoli on Tuesday against what they said was a failure by managers to make a clean break with the past.

*NATO said it conducted 102 air sorties on Monday, 34 of them strike sorties to identify and hit targets.

*It said key targets hit included:  

-- One command and control node and one ammunition and vehicle storage facility in the vicinity of Sirte.

-- Two bunker and command and control nodes and one firing point near Bani Walid.

*Since NATO took command of air strikes on March 31, its aircraft have conducted 24,040 sorties, including 8,975 strike sorties. NATO members participating in air strikes include France, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Belgium, Italy and the United States.

*Thirteen ships under NATO command are patrolling the central Mediterranean Sea to enforce a U.N. arms embargo. On Monday, 12 vessels were hailed to determine destination and cargo. One was boarded and none diverted.

*A total of 2,835 vessels have been hailed, 293 boarded and 11 diverted since the start of the arms embargo.