Cracks in Muammar Gaddafi’s once-total rule spread rapidly across Libya today.

Heavy gunfire broke out in Tripoli today as forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi tightened their grip on the capital.

The streets of Libya’s capital are littered with the bodies of scores of protesters shot dead by security forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, an opposition leader said today.

Deep rifts have opened in Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, with Libyan government officials at home and abroad resigning, air force pilots defecting and a bloody crackdown on protest in the capital of Tripoli, where cars and buildings were burned.