Fighting rages near Kadhafi's compound in Tripoli
The International Criminal Court (ICC) meanwhile is seeking the transfer of Kadhafi's son Seif al-Islam to The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity, the court's spokesman said Monday.
And Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Kadhafi's regime now controls no more than 10-15 percent of the Libyan capital.
Fighting was heard at Kadhafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound in central Tripoli, in the south of the capital, near the Rixos hotel where many foreign journalists are housed, as well as numerous other areas, witnesses and an AFP reporter said.
Residents edged warily through the near-quiet streets, fearful of Kadhafi snipers on the roofs of buildings.
Rebel checkpoints were sparse, indicating they had not yet taken complete control of the city, as they awaited the arrival of thousands more freedom fighters from already liberated parts of the country.
Opposition leaders had earlier warned that pockets of resistance remained despite most of Kadhafi's defenders vanishing during the rebels' lightning charge through Tripoli on Sunday.
Frattini said in Rome the rebels now controlled most of the capital.
"We have seen opposition to the regime advance further over the last hours and we can say that at the present time no more than 10 to 15 percent of the town is still in the hands of the regime," he told SKY TG 24 television.
The whereabouts of the Libyan strongman remained unknown Monday but another of his sons, Mohamed Kadhafi was interviewed by Al-Jazeera television cowering in his house, afraid to leave.
Kadhafi broadcast three defiant audio messages on Sunday, vowing he would not surrender and urging the people of Tripoli to "purge the capital, even as rebel forces swept through the capital and took over the symbolic Green Square at the waterfront. But he has not been seen in public for weeks.
A diplomatic source said the strongman could still be in his compound.
"He is still in Tripoli and could be in his residence at Bab al-Aziziya," said the source, who met the embattled strongman within the past two weeks.
The compound has been blasted regularly since the start of the international military intervention in Libya on March 19 and most of the buildings in the complex have been flattened.
But Kadhafi has many bunkers there that he could take cover in, the diplomatic source said.
US President Barack Obama said Kadhafi's 42-year autocratic regime was at a "tipping point" and that the "tyrant" must go, adding a call for the rebels to respect human rights and move to democracy.
A spokesman for EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said the end of the Kadhafi regime in Libya is near and urged him to relinquish all power to avoid further bloodshed.
"We seem to be witnessing the end of the Kadhafi regime," spokesman Michael Mann said.
Thousands of residents poured onto the streets of Tripoli Sunday night to welcome the rebels, congregating at Green Square, which they renamed Martyrs Square.
Sky News showed jubilant crowds, with many people waving the red, black and green flag of anti-regime forces, dancing in joy and shouting Allahu Akbar (God is greatest). Some fired rifles into the air.
Similar scenes of jubilation were witnessed in Benghazi, the rebels' bastion in the east, where tens of thousands of delirious residents danced and proclaimed the end of the regime of the "tyrant" Kadhafi.
In his audio messages, the 69-year-old strongman vowed not to surrender and urged the people of Tripoli to "purge the capital."
In The Hague, the International Criminal Court confirmed that Seif, for whom the ICC had issued arrest warrants for crimes against humanity, is in detention.
"I have received confidential information stating he has been arrested," Luis Moreno-Ocampo told AFP.
"We hope he can soon be in the Hague" to face justice, he said.
ICC spokesman Fadi El-Abdallah, asked Monday if discussions were underway with the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) over Seif's transfer answered "yes."
"The court as a whole is involved," he said.
NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil told Al-Jazeera television from Benghazi Seif was "being kept in a secure place under close guard until he is handed over to the judiciary."
Abdel Jalil did not say when or where he had been captured.
Describing their assault, rebel leaders said an advance party of fighters had arrived by sea in the capital early Sunday and joined sleeper cells of rebels to launch the final drive, codenamed "Mermaid."
Another rebel force advanced from the west, moving in a convoy of around 100 vehicles as onlookers fired celebratory gunfire into the air, an AFP correspondent said.
By afternoon they had overrun the eastern suburb of Tajura and boasted that they would seize control of the capital during the night.
Guma al-Gamaty, the NTC spokesman in Britain, told the BBC that some loyalists were still heavily armed.
"I think the freedom fighters are dealing with some remnants of Kadhafi's forces -- some of the forces and some of the tanks and multi-rocket launchers and artillery are still positioned in certain places and are not willing to surrender yet," he said.
"They are being surrounded by the freedom fighters and they are given a chance to surrender peacefully rather than take them on in a bloody battle."
Obama issued a written statement calling on the rebels to respect human rights, show leadership, preserve the institutions of the Libyan state and move towards democracy.
"Tonight, the momentum against the Kadhafi regime has reached a tipping point. Tripoli is slipping from the grasp of a tyrant," Obama said as he took a vacation at the resort of Martha's Vineyard.
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