LIBYA (AFP) - Fighters of Libyas interim rulers brandished new weapons Tuesday outside the oasis town of Bani Walid, where residents were fleeing fearing clashes with forces of Muamer Gaddafi. Talks were underway through mediators for the surrender of Gaddafi diehards but so far there is no result, said Abdullah Kenshil, chief negotiator for the National Transitional Council (NTC), Libyas interim ruling body. They want to continue to fight and yesterday they bombed residential areas, he said. Kenshil, citing fleeing residents, said the humanitarian situation in Bani Walid, one of deposed strongman Gaddafis last bastions, was difficult, with shortages of water, electricity and commodities. Due to strong resistance from the Gaddafi loyalists, NTC fighters had pulled back a few kilometres (miles) from the entrance of the town, and on Tuesday were seen armed with new weapons, including light artillery and anti-tank rockets. We received new weapons and fighters from affluent areas to help the NTC combatants at Bani Walid, said a field commander who declined to be identified. The NTC assault to liberate the desert town, 180 kilometres (110 miles) southeast of Tripoli, has been stalled for three days, following the expiry of a deadline set for Gaddafi loyalists to surrender. The area was calm on Tuesday, save for intermittent exchanges of fire and the sound of NATO warplanes flying overhead. But fearing the worst, the residents of the town continued to flee. Since Monday, vehicles carrying families have streamed out of the town, crossing roadblocks set up by NTC fighters and heading towards Tripoli. Dozens of cars left the city this morning, said fighter Bashir Ibrahim Ali, 25, posted at a dam around five kilometres from Bani Walid.