A rebel commander told Reuters that his troops had advanced on Sirte from east and west and were trying to negotiate the town's surrender, but would fight if needed.

"Our aim isn't bloodshed, our aim is liberation," Colonel Salem Muftah al-Refaidy told Reuters during a visit to Benghazi. "We don't want more bloodshed, especially among the civilians -- children, elderly, women."

"(But) there's no chance of return, no chance of withdrawal," he said. "After all this bloodshed we can't say, 'Come here Muammar, come here Saif -- we're sorry, take Libya'. It's done. Game over."