Libyan forces have closed in on Muammar Gaddafi's home town , saying they will seize it by force if negotiations for its surrender fail.
Libya's new rulers, still trying to establish control over the entire country, have set their sights on the coastal city of Sirte, Gaddafi's birthplace, and two other towns controlled by his supporters - Sabha in the southwest and Jufrah in the southeast.
One commander said his forces were within 100km of Sirte from the east and others were advancing from the west.
In Tripoli, which was overrun by anti-Gaddafi forces last week, a Libyan official said 75 bodies had been found at Abu Salim hospital, which was caught up in heavy fighting, and another 35 corpses were found at the Yurmuk hospital.
The NTC and the Western powers that backed rebel forces with a five-month bombing campaign are acutely aware of the need to prevent Libya collapsing into the kind of chaos that plagued Iraq for years after the US-led invasion of 2003.
Oil and gas economy to be restored
The NTC, whose leaders plan to move to Tripoli from Benghazi this week, is trying to impose security, restore basic services and revive the oil- and gas-based economy.
Officials have announced that a vital gas export pipeline to Europe had been repaired and that Libya's biggest refinery had survived the war intact.
In the far west, Tunisian authorities reopened the main border crossing into Libya, restoring a key supply route for Tripoli, after Gaddafi forces were driven out on Friday.
That should help relieve a looming humanitarian crisis in the city, where food, drinking water and medicines are scarce.
Trucks loaded with food and other goods were already moving across the Ras Jdir crossing towards Tripoli, about two hours' drive away.
A UN official said aid would be sent along the route once it was confirmed to be secure.
The streets of the capital were quiet after sporadic overnight gunfire and explosions in a city traumatised by emerging evidence of widespread summary killings that took place during last week's battles to expel Gaddafi.
Some residents ventured out to hunt for water, food and fuel. In Martyrs' Square, known as Green Square in the Gaddafi era, traffic police reappeared in crisp white uniforms, directing cars amid a sea of bullet casings.
NTC will not extradite Lockerbie bomber
Libya will not extradite Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie airline bombing, a minister in Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) said today.
Mohammed al-Alagi, the NTC justice minister, told reporters in Tripoli that 'we will not give any Libyan citizen to the West, Al-Megrahi has already been judged once and he will not be judged again ... We do not hand over Libyan citizens, (Muammar) Gaddafi does.'
