Libya conflict: Hundreds of residents flee Sirte

The BBC's Jonathan Head reports on the streams of civilians that are fleeing the besieged Libyan city of Sirte, ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi's birthplace.

Hundreds of residents, in vehicles packed with belongings, are queuing at checkpoints leading out of the city.

Transitional authority forces say they are observing a truce to encourage the remaining civilians to get out, before launching a final assault.

Jonathan Head, reporting from a makeshift fuelling station around 18.5 miles (30km) from Sirte, says that people who have left the city have told him there is a lack of water, fuel and medical treatment.