Colonel Qaddafi's hometown of Sirte, which lies between Ras Lanuf and Misrata, has not risen up against him.

Some two miles west of Sirte, 15 pick-up trucks mounted with heavy machine guns lay burnt out, smashed and smouldering next to an electricity sub station some 20 metres from the main road.

Mikhail Voitenko, editor of the online maritime bulletin Sovfracht, said an unidentified caller warned him he was "stepping on the toes of some serious people".