Libyan provisional government fighters say they have pushed into the city of Bani Walid, one of the last remaining strongholds of loyalists of former leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Officials said Monday the anti-Gadhafi fighters reached the center of Bani Walid, a day after launching a new assault on the desert city 170 kilometers southeast of the capital, Tripoli.

Provisional authority forces are also trying to secure control of Sirte, where pro-Gadhafi fighters are hemmed into a small area of the city. National Transitional Council officials have said Sirte's capture would allow them to declare the country liberated.

Meanwhile, a Syrian-based pro-Gadhafi television station says the former leader's son Khamis was killed in fighting in late August south of Tripoli.

Al-Rai television on Monday said Khamis Gadhafi was killed in the town of Tarhuna. NTC officials have previously announced his death there, but Gadhafi loyalists had not confirmed the information.