BRITISH warplanes have blasted Gaddafi's key bunkers in loyalist stronghold Sirte as rebels advance on his birthplace.

Tornado GR4s launched a salvo of precision-guided Storm Shadow missiles to stop him making a last stand in the coastal town.

More than 1,000 loyalists are believed to have gathered on the outskirts and the rebels are expecting fierce opposition.

They have been horrified by the ferocity with which Gaddafi's die-hard soldiers and mercenaries have fought in the battle for Tripoli.

British, Qatari and French special forces have been helping rebels on the ground. It is thought they have left an "escape corridor" to encourage Gaddafi's forces, possibly even the disctator himself, to flee south and end up in Sabha – his only remaining desert bastion. If they do, the rebels are prepared to lay seige to it.

Nato and rebel commanders are desperate to prevent Gaddafi's remaining forces launching a "suicidal" pitched battle outside Sirte. In Tripoli there have been some horrific last-stands by loyalist snipers, with some being be burnt alive after refusing to leave their rooftop positions.

Yesterday rebel political leader Mahmoud Jibril said the transitional government will seek a seat at the United Nations next month following the fall of Gaddafi's regime.

Twenty African states have now formally recognised the rebel National Transitional Council as Libya's legitimate government.

While the NTC was dealing with its takeover yesterday evidence of the human cost of the fighting was seen throughout Tripoli.

Bodies were piled up in an abandoned hospital and the smell of death filled the air.

In London, British Defence Secretary Liam Fox said: "The regime needs to recognise the game is up."

- THOUSANDS of Gaddafi's minions may be allowed to keep their jobs in the Libyan police and security services after British officials insisted there should be no purge.