Libya's new rulers have decided to postpone formation of a transitional government until the entire country is liberated from forces loyal to ex-leader Moammar Gadhafi, an official said on Tuesday.

"Consultations have led to a decision to postpone the formation of a government until after liberation," Mustafa al-Huni, a member of the ruling National Transitional Council, said in the NTC's eastern bastion of Benghazi.

Troops of Libya's new rulers seized control of the port in Sirte, Moammar Gadhafi's birthplace, in fighting with the ousted leader's diehards during the night, a commander told Agence France Presse on Tuesday.

"There were clashes in the night and we now are controlling the port," said Commander Mustafa bin Dardef of the Zintan brigade, which is attached to the National Transitional Council (NTC), the new ruling body of Libya.

Italian oil giant ENI has resumed oil production in Libya more than six months after civil unrest brought oil and gas output in the country to a near standstill, the company said Monday.

A statement said that ENI had restarted production at the Abu Attifel oil field. Before the conflict that ousted leader Moammar Gadhafi, ENI was the top foreign oil producer in Libya, a former Italian colony.

Anti-Gadhafi fighters Monday encircled the ousted leader's hometown of Sirte on the Mediterranean coast from the east, south and west and NATO warplanes pounded the city for a third straight day.

The siege of one of Moammar Gadhafi's last bastions comes as Libya's new rulers said they had unearthed a mass grave in Tripoli of 1,700 prisoners slain by his regime in a 1996 uprising, a massacre that helped trigger the revolt that ousted the despot.

Libya's new rulers said Sunday they have unearthed a mass grave of 1,700 prisoners slain by Moammar Gadhafi’s regime in a 1996 uprising, a massacre that helped trigger the revolt that ousted the despot.

The gruesome find came as hundreds of the National Transitional Council's fighters thrust into Gadhafi’s hometown of Sirte from the east and NATO warplanes pounded the coastal city for a second straight day.

Forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi attacked the Ghadames oasis southwest of Tripoli at dawn on Sunday, killing at least five new regime fighters, a local official and two witnesses told Agence France Presse.

"We came under attack at dawn today from Gadhafi loyalists and groups of Tuaregs," Muhandes Sirajeddin, deputy chief of the local council in Ghadames 600 kilometers (370 miles) southwest of the capital, told AFP by telephone.

Libya's new government will be announced next week, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the head of the National Transitional Council, said on Saturday.

"The composition of the transitional government will be announced next week," said Abdel Jalil, acknowledging that "differences in views" between members of the NTC and the executive office had delayed a deal.

Fighting has claimed the lives of 30 interim government fighters in the campaign to capture the Gadhafi bastion of Bani Walid southeast of the Libyan capital, Dr. Mabruk Kernaf said on Saturday.

The National Transitional Council's northern front commander said another 50 had been wounded.

Switzerland said Friday that it has lifted sanctions against two Libyan oil firms -- National Oil Corporation and its affiliated Zueitina Oil Corporation, as well as Afriqiyah Airways.

The authorities announced the changes in a decree which entered into force Friday.

Forces loyal to Libya's new rulers said they were holding back on Thursday from advancing on Moammar Gadhafi's last redoubts despite their capture of two key southern oases.

The commander of NATO's Libya air campaign, Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard, said he was confident the mission could be completed "well within" three months after the alliance extended it for another 90 days.