Muammar Gaddafi hometown bombed as rebel leaders move to Tripoli

British warplanes have bombed a bunker in Muammar Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte, as rebel fighters grouped today for another push on 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 for that process to be "inclusive," while the UN human rights chief warned against assassinating Gaddafi, whose whereabouts are unknown and who has a USD 1.7 million rebel price on his head.

"At around midnight, a formation of Tornado GR4s... fired a salvo of Storm Shadow precision-guided missiles against a large headquarters bunker in Gaddafi's home town of Sirte," the defence ministry said in London.

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

NATO said today that its planes had hit 29 armed vehicles and a "command and control node" in the vicinity of Sirte.

Yesterday, the National Transitional Council (NTC) moved many of its top people from their Benghazi base, just days after rebel fighters overran Tripoli, going on to capture Gaddafi's headquarters and vast swathes of the capital.

Ali Tarhuni, a NTC official, said their leader, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, would arrive as soon as the security situation permitted.

"I declare the beginning and assumption of the executive committee's work in Tripoli," Tarhuni, the executive committee's vice chairman and minister of oil and economics, said.

"Long live democratic and constitutional Libya and glory to our martyrs," he said, announcing the holders of key posts in a new provisional government.