TRIPOLI-(AFP) – Fighting raged near the compound of Libyan leader Muoamer Gaddafi and flared sporadically across Tripoli Monday, witnesses said, a day after jubilant rebels overran the symbolic heart of the capital.

Rebel fighters packed in trucks, cars and pickups streamed during the day from liberated areas of western Libya towards Green Square, brandishing arms and honking horns, an AFP reporter witnessed.

Many of the rebels were waving the flag of the revolution as they appeared to be heading to the square to reinforce fighters there who had come under sniper attack by Gaddafi loyalists.

On the political front, the chief of the Libyan rebels’ council said that his ad hoc government was preparing to move to Tripoli.

“The heroic rebels have controlled almost all of Tripoli. Preparatory measures are being taken for the national council to move to Tripoli. Trips are already being prepared,” Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the head of the National Transitional Council (NTC) told Al-Arabiya news channel from Benghazi.

“There remains some pockets (of resistance) that are delaying this move. But God willing, we will eliminate them within 48 hours,” he said.

The rebel chief said it was difficult to tell whether Gaddafi has fled the country or remained within, pointing out that he could still be at his Bab al-Azizya compound in Tripoli.

“The area around al-Azizya is still a hot spot. There are forces that continue to fight the rebels. He (Kadhafi) could still be in al-Azizya, or in neighbouring areas,” he said.

“No one could definitely tell whereabouts of Gaddafi, whether inside Libya or abroad. Some areas remain beyond the rebels’ control,” he added.

Opposition leaders had earlier warned that pockets of resistance remained despite most of Gaddafi’s defenders vanishing during the rebels’ lightning charge through Tripoli on Sunday.

The NTC’s top diplomat in London said the rebels now controlled 95 percent of Tripoli after the dramatic push into the capital, and pledged that rebel fighters would “turn over every stone to find” Gaddafi.

The whereabouts of the Libyan strongman remained unknown Monday but another of his sons, Mohamed Gaddafi was interviewed by Al-Jazeera television cowering in his house, afraid to leave.

Gaddafi broadcast three defiant audio messages on Sunday, vowing he would not surrender and urging the people of Tripoli to “purge the capital, even as rebel forces swept through the capital and took over the symbolic Green Square at the waterfront. But he has not been seen in public for weeks.

A diplomatic source said the strongman could still be in his compound.

“He is still in Tripoli and could be in his residence at Bab al-Aziziya,” said the source, who met the embattled strongman within the past two weeks.

Gadhdfi has many bunkers there that he could take cover in, the diplomatic source said.

US President Barack Obama said Gaddafi’s 42-year autocratic regime was at a “tipping point” and that the “tyrant” must go, adding a call for the rebels to respect human rights and move to democracy.

France welcomed the apparent defeat of Gaddafi’s regime and said it would host a summit of the international “contract group” coordinating a response to the conflict.

“We have reached the tipping point. This is a subject of great satisfaction. France took risks, calculated risks, but the cause was just,” Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told reporters at his ministry in Paris.

“France has proposed an extraordinary meeting of the Contact Group at the highest level from next week,” urging the strongman’s remaining supporters to lay down their arms and warning them: “The regime’s days are numbered.”

In London, British Prime Minister David Cameron said Gaddafi’s regime was in “full retreat” and he should give up any hope he has of clinging on to power.

“His regime is falling apart and in full retreat,” Cameron said. “Gaddafi must stop fighting, without conditions, and clearly show that he has given up any claim to control Libya.”

Thousands of residents poured onto the streets of Tripoli Sunday night to welcome the rebels, congregating at Green Square, which they renamed Martyrs Square.

Sky News showed jubilant crowds, with many people waving the red, black and green flag of anti-regime forces, dancing in joy and shouting Allahu Akbar (God is greatest). Some fired rifles into the air.

Similar scenes of jubilation were witnessed in Benghazi, the rebels’ bastion in the east, where tens of thousands of delirious residents danced and proclaimed the end of the regime of the “tyrant” Gaddafi.

The International Criminal Court, meanwhile, is seeking the transfer of Kadhafi’s son Seif al-Islam to The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity, the court’s spokesman said Monday.

“The court as a whole is involved,” Fadi El-Abdallah told AFP, answering ‘yes’ when asked if that meant discussions were underway with the Libyan rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) over Seif al-Islam’s transfer.

Earlier Monday the court’s prosecutor Louis Moreno-Ocampo said Seif al-Islam, 39, was arrested and in detention, calling for his swift transfer.

“We hope he can soon be in The Hague” to face judgement, Moreno-Ocampo said as he indicated he was planning to contact the “Libyan transitional government” later in the day.

Seif al-Islam is accused together with his father with orchestrating a plan to put down the Libyan revolt by “any means necessary” since it was sparked in mid-February.

Obama issued a written statement calling on the rebels to respect human rights, show leadership, preserve the institutions of the Libyan state and move towards democracy.

“Tonight, the momentum against the Gaddafi regime has reached a tipping point. Tripoli is slipping from the grasp of a tyrant,” Obama said as he took a vacation at the resort of Martha’s Vineyard.