One of the sons of ousted Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi has been arrested in his hometown of Sirte, the new leadership said as its forces mopped up the last isolated pockets of resistance.
"Mutassim Kadhafi was captured at Sirte and was transferred to Benghazi" in the country's east, National Transitional Council (NTC) advisor Abdelkarim Bizama said.
"We did not announce the capture earlier to avoid that (his family or aides) try to free him," he added.
However, a spokesman for the NTC's military council was unable to confirm that Kadhafi's son had been caught.
Kadhafi opponents fired shots in the air in the capital Tripoli and Misrata after news of Mutassim's arrest broke.
Born in 1975, Mutassim Kadhafi is a career soldier and doctor who held the title of national security adviser. He had been considered a rival to his brother Seif al-Islam in any bid to succeed their father.
Seif al-Islam is believed to be hiding in Bani Walid, an oasis 170 kilometres (105 miles) southeast of Tripoli, possibly with Moamer Kadhafi who remains at large weeks after opposition forces captured the capital, Tripoli, in late August ending the Libyan strongman's four-decade rule of the north African nation.
Forces of Libya's new regime said earlier Wednesday they were mopping up the last pockets of resistance in Sirte, maintaining its fall was imminent.
Kadhafi loyalists Thursday were keeping up their dogged resistance in two parts of the fugitive strongman's hometown.
Rocket fire, and machinegun and small arms exchanges were heard from the Dollar neighbourhood, facing the Mediterranean in the northwest of the coastal city, and in the Number Two residential neighbourhood.