Bahrain's Foreign Ministry said in light of recent developments the country wished to renew its backing to Libya's National Transitional Council as the sole legitimate representative of the Libyan people.

The recognition by Bahrain, Oman and Iraq came as joyful Libyan rebels overran Muammar Gadaffi's Tripoli bastion yesterday, seizing weapons and loot and destroying symbols of a 42-year dictatorship they declared was now over as they set about hunting down the fallen ruler and his sons.

Ministry officials said they hoped it would help Libya achieve prosperity, progress and stability, development and reconstruction.

Western powers who backed the revolt with air power held off from pronouncing victory although a swift return to order is high on their priorities, given fears that ethnic and tribal divisions among the rebels could descend into the kind of anarchy that would thwart hopes of Libya resuming oil exports.

Rebel National Council chief Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, who was until February a loyal minister of Gadaffi, cautioned: "It is too early to say that the battle of Tripoli is over. That won't happen until Gadaffi and his sons are captured."

Mahmoud Jibril, head of the rebel government, promised a transition toward a democracy for all Libyans. "The whole world is looking at Libya," he said, warning against summary justice.

"We must not sully the final page of the revolution."

Hundreds of Libyan rebels stormed Gadaffi's compound, charging wildly through the symbolic heart of the crumbing regime as they killed loyalist troops, looted armouries and knocked the head off a statue of the besieged dictator. But they found no sign of the man himself.

But defiant Gadaffi loyalists were still battling rebels in Zuara, a port town 40km near the Tunisian border.

Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court in the Hague, Netherlands, acknowledged a day after its prosecutor wrongly announced the arrest of Muammar Gadaffi's son that Libyan rebels never confirmed his capture, but insisted he would face justice if caught.

In an embarrassment for the court and rebels, Seif Al Islam defiantly appeared yesterday at a Tripoli hotel housing foreign journalists. He boasted that his father's regime still has control in Tripoli and will crush the rebellion.

The US hopes to soon release between $1 billion and $1.5 billion in frozen Gadaffi regime assets to give to the Libyan opposition.

The State Department said it would make the money available to Libya's Transitional National Council to help it meet immediate humanitarian needs as soon as the US sanctions committee gives its approval. – TradeArabia News Service