Meanwhile, fighters prepared to launch a final assault on the former leader's enclave of Sirte, where they traded fire with Gadhafi's loyalists still holed up in the coastal town.

It is the buildup to what is expected to be the final push to capture the city as a two-day ceasefire to allow civilians to flee the city is drawing to a close.

With Libya's security situation still unresolved, the top leaders Mustafa Abdel Jalil and Mahmoud Jibril held a press conference to announce that the group's executive committee was being reappointed temporarily.

Mahmoud Jibril, the interim prime minister, will continue to head the committee until the formation of an interim government after the fall of Sirte. He said once the military situation resolved itself, he would no longer be needed for the unity of the country.

Mahmoud Jibril stressed the importance of Libya resuming its oil output to open a much-needed revenue stream.