Libyan revolutionary forces fired rockets into the western half of Muammar Gaddafi's home town today as hundreds of residents streamed out of the city to flee the fighting.

LIBYAN provisional government forces backed by NATO warplanes raced into the eastern outskirts of Sirte yesterday and fought street battles with Muammar Gaddafi loyalists.

Nato airstrikes pounded an area in Muammar Gaddafi’s hometown today, fighters said, while revolutionary forces surrounding the city came under rocket fire.

Sharp splits are already emerging in the ranks of Libya's new rulers between Islamic conservatives and more secular figures competing for power even as the leadership begins to settle in Tripoli.

The acting prime minister for Libya’s new rulers has appealed for national unity to rebuild the country while calling Moammar Gaddafi a figure of the past.

MUAMMAR GADDAFI taunted his Libyan enemies and their Western backers last night as rebel forces battled pockets of loyalists across Tripoli in an urgent quest to find and silence the fugitive strongman.

Libyans hunting Muammar Gaddafi have offered a $2m (€1.3m) bounty on the fallen dictator’s head and amnesty for anyone who kills or captures him as rebels battled to clear the last pockets of resistance from the capital Tripoli.

The head of Libya’s opposition government is travelling to France and will meet President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has championed the drive to oust Muammar Gaddafi.

Libya’s rebels began as a disparate group of former government insiders, Western-leaning intellectuals, businessmen and even a smattering of ex-Islamist militants.