BRITISH spies accused of helping in the rendition and torture of two Libyan rebels will be investigated by police, officials said.

THE body of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi will be buried today in a simple ceremony, attended by Muslim clerics, in a secret location in the Libyan desert, an official with the National Transitional Council said yesterday.

Dozens of bodies, apparently of Gaddafi loyalists, some of whom may have been executed by revolutionary forces, have been discovered in the Libyan town of Sirte.

JOCKEYING for power among Libya’s well-armed and fractious new leadership may intensify after the death of deposed autocrat Muammar Gaddafi, an anxious and, for many, joyous moment in a country hungry for stability and impatient to swap the bullet for the ballot box.

Libyan revolutionary forces have captured almost all of Bani Walid, one of Muammar Gaddafi's last remaining strongholds, but still face pockets of resistance as they try to end a weeks-long stand-off, officials said.

A gun battle erupted today between hundreds of revolutionary forces and Muammar Gaddafi supporters in the capital for the first time in more than two months.

Revolutionary forces are pushing into the centre of Muammar Gaddafi’s home town of Sirte, squeezing the remaining loyalist fighters still holding out.

Revolutionary fighters today attacked a convention centre in the centre of Sirte that forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi turned into their main base, in what commanders said was a final offensive to crush resistance in the city after weeks of siege.

CIVILIANS pouring out of Muammar Gaddafi’s hometown Sirte said the horror of the battle for the city finally forced them to conquer their fear of the besieging new regime forces and leave.

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.

Libya’s revolutionary forces say they have stepped up a siege around Muammar Gaddafi’s home town of Sirte to wear down his loyalist forces inside.

The general commanding Nato’s mission in Libya said today that isolated groups of forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi continue to be a threat to local people but are unable to co-ordinate their actions.

Families in pickup trucks stacked with mattresses and jugs of water fled Muammar Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte ahead of an expected new push by revolutionary forces to seize the city, as the anti-Gaddafi forces claimed progress in the battle for a city in the remote southern desert.

Muammar Gaddafi has claimed his regime is still alive in Libya and has called his opponents' takeover of all but a few pockets of the country a charade.

LIBYAN interim government forces bent on seizing Muammar Gaddafi’s remaining strongholds fell back after another chaotic attack on the desert town of Bani Walid yesterday, but renewed their battle for the deposed leader’s birthplace of Sirte.

Muammar Gaddafi’s fighters fired several mortars and tried to ambush revolutionary forces today at the northern gate of the loyalist stronghold of Bani Walid.

Libyan revolutionary fighters struggled to expand the offensive into Muammar Gaddafi’s home town today with street-by-street battles and commanders seeking to break open a new front against loyalist forces fiercely defending the most symbolic stronghold remaining from the shattered regime.

THE UN Security Council has unanimously approved a new UN mission in Libya and the unfreezing of assets of two major oil companies.

Libyan fighters are streaming into Bani Walid, one of the remaining bastions of ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi, in a fierce new push.

WARY of alienating a powerful local tribe, fighters backing Libya’s new rulers are urging families to leave the besieged town of Bani Walid before resorting to full-scale military force to take one of Muammar Gaddafi’s last strongholds.

Nato warplanes have struck several targets in areas still loyal to fugitive leader Muammar Gaddafi as revolutionary forces said they had to retreat after coming under heavy fire.

Volunteer fighters poured in from the Libyan capital and other towns held by the former rebels today to join what they expect to be the final battle for Bani Walid, one of Muammar Gaddafi’s last remaining strongholds.

Libyan fighters have launched a two-pronged assault on one of the last towns to resist the country’s new rulers, clashing with Muammar Gaddafi’s supporters inside Bani Walid as a week-long standoff dissolved into street-to-street battles, the revolutionary forces said.

Libya’s new rulers have dedicated a special unit of fighters to track down former leader Muammar Gaddafi, listening in on his aides’ phone calls, poring over satellite images and interviewing witnesses.

The battle is continuing for the Libyan town of Bani Walid as former rebel fighters hunt for fugitive dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

LIBYAN army vehicles have crossed the desert frontier into Niger in what may be a dramatic, secretly negotiated bid by Muammar Gaddafi to seek refuge in a friendly African state.

Muammar Gaddafi is determined to fight his way back to power, his chief spokesman claimed today, as a large convoy of his soldiers apparently deserted into neighbouring Niger.

Rebel reinforcements converged on one of Muammar Gaddafi’s last strongholds in Libya today, even as they gave the town a last chance to surrender.

Negotiations held primarily with Muammar Gaddafi’s chief spokesman over the peaceful surrender of a regime stronghold have failed, a rebel spokesman said.

NEGOTIATIONS held primarily with Muammar Gaddafi’s chief spokesman over the peaceful surrender of a regime stronghold have failed, a rebel spokesman said last night.

The Gaddafi regime warned British officials that there would be “dire consequences” for relations between the UK and Libya if Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi died in his Scottish jail cell, it has emerged.

Rebel forces in Libya will lay siege to pro-Gaddafi cities until a deadline for their surrender expires next week, the opposition leader said today.

In the days since the five brothers vanished at a checkpoint manned by Gaddafi loyalists, a small army of friends and relatives have fanned out across Tripoli.

LIBYA’S new leadership reaffirmed their commitment to democracy and good governance yesterday as they worked on how to spend billions of dollars they have been given from the frozen assets of fugitive strongman Muammar Gaddafi.

Rebels hunting the top officials in Muammar’s Gaddafi’s ousted regime have captured his foreign minister and are closing in on Gaddafi himself, rebel officials said today.

ONE of Muammar Gaddafi’s sons has tried to negotiate his own surrender, according to the rebel commander in Tripoli.

A man claiming to be Muammar Gaddafi's son Seif al-Islam is vowing to fight to the death and says nobody will surrender.

NATO forces have bombed several targets near Muammar Gaddafi's home town of Sirte which is southeast of Tripoli.

Libya’s warring sides in the Gaddafi stronghold of Sirte are now engaged in “discussions”, according to Nato.

Members of ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s family have entered Algeria, reports say.

The European Union has opened a humanitarian office in Tripoli and France has reopened its embassy as the process of resurrecting the Libyan capital gets underway.

Libyan rebels have freed more than 10,000 people from Muammar Gaddafi’s prisons since entering Tripoli last week, according to a military spokesman.

Retreating loyalists of Muammar Gaddafi killed scores of detainees and arbitrarily shot civilians over the past week, as rebel forces extended their control over the Libyan capital, survivors and a human rights group said.

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.