The forces of Libya's interim government have stormed into the desert town of Bani Walid and are engaged in fierce fighting in Sirte, Moammar Gadhafi's hometown.

Friday's battles marked an expansion of the interim government's offensive against the few remaining pro-Gadhafi strongholds.

Witnesses said NATO planes flew over Sirte as rapid gunfire and the explosion of heavy rockets filled the coastal Mediterranean town with smoke.

Reports from Bani Walid tell of heavy gunfire there as well.

The forces of Libya's National Transitional Council are trying to dislodge well-armed Gadhafi loyalists.

Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Tripoli Friday on his tour of Arab capitals, in a gesture of support for Libya's fledgling new government. One of the NTC's top officials, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, greeted the Turkish leader at the capital's airport.

On Thursday, crowds in Tripoli and the eastern city of Banghazil gave a jubilant welcome to British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The European visitors said they would be introducing a draft resolution at the United Nations Security Council to establish a U.N. mission in Libya and remove an international “freeze” on Libyan assets.

The resolution also would abolish the international arms embargo against LIbya and lift a “no-fly zone” on civilian air travel in the Mediterranean nation.

Prime Minister Cameron and President Sarkozy said they will help Libya's new government track down Mr. Gadhafi and extend its authority throughout the country, and they promised NATO's military support for Libya will continue as long as it is needed.

Mr. Cameron called on the fugitive leader and his followers to surrender, and Mr. Sarkozy said he would urge authorities in neighboring Niger, a former French colony, to detain Gadhafi associates who have recently entered the country.