In a fiery broadcast from hiding, Muammar Gaddafi has warned that loyalist tribes in his main strongholds were armed and preparing for battle, a show of defiance hours after rebels extended a deadline for the surrender of the fugitive leader’s home town.

LIBYAN rebels have rejected an offer by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to negotiate and said they have captured the eastern town of Bin Jawwad, forcing regime loyalists to flee after days of fighting.

Libyan rebels today rejected an offer by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to negotiate and said they have captured the eastern town of Bin Jawwad, forcing regime loyalists to flee after days of fighting.

The Libyan government has denied rebel reports that Muammar Gaddafi's youngest son was killed in a Nato air strike on a front-line town in western Libya.