Gaddafi's sons caught

Rebel fighters streamed into Tripoli yesterday with little sign of resistance, despite a call by Muammar Gaddafi for citizens to take up arms and save his 41-year-old regime from annihilation.

Sky television showed people celebrating in the centre of the city and being welcomed by civilians pouring into the streets.

Rebels said two sons of Gaddafi's sons had been arrested, broadcaster Al Jazeera reported.

Seif al-Islam and al-Saadi were arrested in a tourist village in western Tripoli, Abu Bakr al-Tarbulsi.

There was no word on the whereabouts of Gaddafi.

Libya's rebels would halt their offensive if Gaddafi announced his departure, the head of Libya's rebel National Transitional Council told on Al Arabiya. Mustapha Abd El Jalil added that the rebel forces would give Gaddafi and his sons safe passage out of the country.

TV reports suggesting he had already left Libya, possibly for Algeria. International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane with brief the media this morning on the latest developments in Libya.

Meanwhile, rebels said they had entered the Green Square near the compound of Gaddafi. They said pro-Gaddafi forces retreated, and many of them were captured.

Al-Jazeera showed footage of people in Tripoli welcoming the victorious rebels.

Thousands of rebel fighters were seen earlier in the day 20km west of the city centre, aiming to join fighters inside who began an uprising late on Saturday.

Gaddafi earlier had called on citizens to fight the rebels, saying he would open the armouries for them to take weapons.

"I am afraid if we don't act, they will burn Tripoli," Gaddafi said in an audio address broadcast on state television.

"There will be no more water, food, electricity or freedom."

In a co-ordinated revolt that rebels have been secretly planning for months to end Gaddafi's 41-year rule, shooting started on Saturday night across Tripoli moments after Muslim clerics, using the loudspeakers of mosque minarets, called people on to the streets.

A diplomatic source in Paris, where the government has closely backed the rebels, said underground rebel cells in the capital had been following detailed plans drawn up months ago and had been waiting for a signal to act.

That signal was "iftar" - the moment when Muslims observing the holy months of Ramadan break their daily fast.

A Libyan government official told Reuters that 376 people on both sides of the conflict were killed in fighting overnight on Saturday in Tripoli, with about 1000 others wounded. He later claimed in a televised broadcast that the death toll was in the thousands, with thousands more wounded.

His words were not borne out by televised pictures of people celebrating in the city centre.

"Gaddafi's chances for a safe exit are diminishing by the hour," said Ashour Shamis, an opposition activist and editor based in Britain.

If the Libyan leader is forced from power, there are question marks over whether the opposition can restore stability in this oil exporting country. The rebels' own ranks have been racked by disputes and rivalry.