Talks to end a standoff around the besieged Libyan town of Bani Walid broke down this evening according to a negotiator for the country's National Transitional Council.
Libya's NTC had sought the peaceful surrender of Gaddafi loyalists in the town but had threatened it was ready to attack if no deal was reached.
The collapse of talks means an assault on the town is now increasingly likely.
Bani Walid is one of the last areas of Libya considered loyal to Gaddafi and is surrounded by NTC soldiers, as is the town of Sirte.
"As chief negotiator, I have nothing to offer right now. From my side, negotiations are finished," Abdallah Kanshil, a negotiator for the interim council said at a checkpoint some 60km outside Bani Walid.
"We will leave this for the field commanders to decide, for the NTC to decide what to do next. I urge Gaddafi people to leave the town alone."
He said all NTC proposals put forward on Sunday were rejected.
"They said they don't want to talk, they are threatening everyone who moves. They are putting snipers on high rise buildings and inside olive groves, they have a big fire force. We compromised a lot at the last minute," he said.
Earlier negotiator Abdul Azil said NATO-backed NTC forces were just 10km from Bani Walid and inching forward, ready to attack what he said were an estimated 100 pro-Gaddafi fighters there if necessary.
Yesterday, Naduri said Gaddafi’s son Saadi was still in Bani Walid, along with other senior figures of the fallen regime, while his prominent son Seif al-Islam had fled the town.
Civilians coming from Bani Walid said that most of Gaddafi’s forces had now fled, taking their heavy weaponry with them into the surrounding mountains.
NTC forces east of Sirte meanwhile moved to disarm members of the Hussnia tribe suspected of loyalty to the ousted strongman.
The NTC also said it wanted to see Gaddafi stand trial in Libya when eventually captured, and not in an international court.
The NTC spokesman in London, Guma al-Gamaty said that when captured, Gaddafi should stand trial in Libya and not at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague that has issued an arrest warrant for suspected crimes against humanity committed during the Libyan uprising.
Mr Gamaty said it would be up to the court to determine whether a death sentence was appropriate for Gaddafi, but added: "The court will be fair and just and will meet all international standards.
"It will be a fair trial - something that Gaddafi has never offered any Libyans who criticised him over the last 42 years."
Claims Germany had spy links with Gaddafi
German intelligence services co-operated with the spy network of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, according to a former top official in the country.
The claims come after documents emerged appearing to show links between the CIA in the US, Britain's MI6 and Libya.
Bernd Schmidbauer, co-ordinator of Germany's secret services between 1991 and 1998, told the country’s Bild am Sonntag weekly the German-Libyan spy link "revolved mainly around information about the fight against terrorism and therefore Germany's security interests."
However, he stressed that Germany did not carry out joint operations with the Libyan spies, as the British and US intelligence services appear to have done.
Files unearthed from Gaddafi’s intelligence archives appear to document deep co-operation between the CIA, MI6 and the former Libyan regime, including the shipping of terror suspects for interrogation.
And in fresh revelations from documents obtained by media and rights groups in Tripoli, Britain's Sunday Times said London invited two of Gaddafi’s sons to the headquarters of the SAS special forces unit in 2006 as former premier Tony Blair tried to build ties with the Libyan regime.
