Hundreds of fighters storm Gadhafi's birthplace

Libyan fighters gather on the eastern outskirts of Sirte.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: ICRC intent on evacuating more wounded people
• Battles are raging in the eastern part of the city
• Libya's new leadership plans to declare "liberation" if and when Sirte falls
• Hundreds of NTC fighters storm the west part of Sirte

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Battles raged on Friday as the new Libyan leaders sought to gain control of the coastal birthplace of ousted ruler Moammar Gadhafi.
Hundreds of National Transitional Council fighters were ordered to start attacking the western part of Sirte, said Mohammed Ibrahim, a field military commander.
Battles were already ongoing in the eastern part of the city as NTC fighters continued to try and root out a contingent of Gadhafi loyalists.

El ataque final a Sirte

"The battle will be difficult but we have to finish it," Ibrahim said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it evacuated three wounded people from Ibn Sina hospital in Sirte to a field hospital on another side of the front line on Thursday.
Dibeh Fakhr, an ICRC spokesman in Misrata, said on Friday the group is committed to entering Sirte again to evacuate more wounded people.
The ICRC says thousands of civilians remain inside Sirte. But Ghafar Bishtawi, an ICRC delegate, east of Sirte, said "waves of civilians are leaving the city almost every day."
"We even saw entire families leaving on foot, bringing their small children with them, without any food or water," Bishtawi said. The ICRC says more than 18,000 people, including many women, children and elderly people are displaced east of Sirte and hundreds have moved to safer locations west of the city.
The cities of Bani Walid and Sirte remain contested even as the National Transitional Council moves forward to form new governance in Libya.
Libya's new leadership plans to declare "liberation" if and when Sirte falls.
But Gadhafi's men have put up stiff resistance in the two cities and the fighting has been ongoing for weeks.
The transitional council's leader and the interim prime minister have promised to step down once Sirte is taken to clear the way for a new government.
Together with Libyan Red Crescent volunteers, the ICRC is distributing potable water, baby food, baby milk and hygiene items to most of the displaced people.