Libya Rebels Claim Control of 'Most' of Key Port Zawiyah

Libyan rebels said on Monday they had wrested control from Moammar Gadhafi's forces of "most" of the key port of Zawiyah, the last barrier on their thrust towards the capital Tripoli.

"Basically most of the town is under the control of rebel fighters," the insurgents' field commander Abdul Hamid Ismail told AFP, referring to the port 40 kilometers west of Tripoli.

Ismail said battles for the town had raged through the night, during which five rebels were killed, and that Gadhafi's forces had been pushed to the eastern outskirts.

By morning the fighting had died down and an Agence France Presse correspondent in Zawiyah reported only the occasional sound of shelling.

Earlier Monday, the rebels claimed they had wrested control of the town of Sorman, 60 kilometers west of Tripoli and Garyan, 50 kms to the south.

Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim has, however, said that the regime's armed forces were capable of retaking the towns and districts where the rebels have made advances in recent days.