Libyan rebels fought for control of a major supply road to the capital today after seizing a border crossing with Tunisia, strengthening their hold on the oil-rich country as they hunt for Muammar Gaddafi.
Clearing the road from the Tunisian border to Tripoli would help ease growing shortages of fuel and food, particularly in the battle-scarred capital.
Mahmoud Shammam, information minister in the rebels' transitional council, said the rebels already control most of the road, but that regime fighters are shelling it in the area of the city of Zwara, west of Tripoli.
"We hope to be able to control the road today," he told reporters in Tripoli.
Rebel fighters have taken control of the Tunisian-Libyan crossing known as Ras Ajdir, the gateway to the main road to Tripoli, said Shammam and rebels in the area.
In Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte, one of the regime's remaining bastions, negotiations are continuing for a peaceful surrender of regime loyalists, Shammam said.
"We don't want more bloodshed, and we had a very good response," he said, adding that he hoped the standoff would be resolved very soon.
The hunt for Gaddafi is continuing, but will not delay efforts to set up a new administration, he said.
"Gaddafi for us is finished," he said. "He has escaped, he is running from place to place. Of course, we want to get Gaddafi. We are following him. We are going to find him, but we are not going to wait for everything to find Gaddafi and his son."
The Egyptian news agency MENA, quoting unidentified rebel fighters, reported from Tripoli that six armoured Mercedes sedans have crossed the border at the southwestern Libyan town of Ghadamis into Algeria.
