Kadhafi hometown bombed, rebels poised to attack

TRIPOLI: British warplanes bombed a bunker in Moamer Kadhafi's birthplace of Sirte as rebel fighters prepared to attack the town, one of the last major regime holdouts east of Tripoli.

As insurgent leaders moved into Tripoli to begin a political transition, the African Union called Friday for that process to be "inclusive", while the UN human rights chief warned against assassinating Kadhafi, whose whereabouts are unknown and who has a $1.7 million rebel price on his head.

On the ground, the rebels claimed a new military success Friday with the capture of Ras Jdir, a post on the border with Tunisia, which it was feared Kadhafi might use to escape Libya.

A Tunisian government official said Kadhafi loyalists fled as more than 100 rebels arrived at Ras Jdir and raised their flag.

A representative of the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) said on Tunisian television from Ras Jdir that four pro-Kadhafi fighters surrendered.

On the Sirte front, "a formation of Tornado GR4s fired a salvo of Storm Shadow precision-guided missiles against a large headquarters bunker in Kadhafi's hometown" on Thursday night, Britain's defence ministry said.

Speculation that Kadhafi might have found refuge in the town, which lies 360 kilometres (225 miles) east of Tripoli, has not been confirmed.

NATO said on Friday its planes had hit 29 armed vehicles and a "command and control node" near Sirte as they advanced toward the rebel-held port of Misrata, about 140 kilometres away.

Regime forces in Sirte have been regularly targeted since the start of the campaign, an official said, but now "it's one of the last places he (Kadhafi) has control of." (AFP)