It was once the symbol of Gaddafi's strength over the west, a brutal image of power and victory. Now it stands ruined with the Mad Dog's illusion of power over the country shattered, like the windows in his once regal compound. Built in 1986, after the US air strikes in Libya, the iconic statue shows a fist crushing an American aircraft and was the majestic backdrop for many of the dictator's speeches. In a final gesture of contempt rebels forces climbed and painted the statue screaming victory as their dictator remains absent, presumably in hiding. Scroll down for video . Ransacked: Gaddafi's Bab Al Azaziya compound in Tripoli is trashed - the dictator's whereabouts is still unknown . Triumphant: Gaddafi used the gold fist statue as a backdrop to many speeches . RAF warplanes blasted missile launchers and a command bunker in Colonel Gaddafi’s home town of Sirte yesterday as rebel forces prepared to launch an attack. SAS men with Arab special forces were said to be carrying out reconnaissance for Nato and rebels around the Gaddafi stronghold for what  Libyan officials say could be the ‘last great battle’ of the war. Reports have claimed that the dictator and some of his sons are in the town together with thousands of his troops and clan fighters whose loyalty Gaddafi bought when he created Sirte as effectively his second capital. Fresh battles rage: A Libyan man runs across the street seeking shelter from sniper fire in Tripoli today . A rebel fighter shoots during an intense gun battle in Abu Salim, yesterday. Today they were still facing pockets of resistance . For the second day running, RAF Tornado . GR4s attacked targets in and around the coastal town, 250 miles east of . Tripoli, as Nato once again ‘softened’ regime defences before a rebel . offensive. The Tornados took off from RAF Marham in Norfolk on a long-range strike . mission firing a salvo of Storm Shadow precision-guided missiles against . a large command and control bunker. It followed strikes by Tornados the previous day on three mobile missile . launchers for Scud missiles. Regime commanders are said to have kept . back an arsenal of 240 Scuds which would be capable of carrying chemical . weapons such as mustard gas. Rebels point to reports that more than 100 . of their captured fighters and supporters have been executed in Sirte . and this has fuelled their determination to storm it. WARNING: Graphic content below . Battle for Tripoli: A rebel points his rifle at a man accused of being a mercenary fighting for Gaddafi, outside a fire station in the capital . A Libyan worker loads smoke-damaged mannequins from a burnt out clothes shop, into a truck after the intense battle in Abu Salim district . Ali al-Tarhuni, who is responsible for finance and oil in the Libyan rebels' Transitional National Council, speaks out at a press conference . Despite continued fighting in Tripoli – RAF Tornados and Typhoons again . attacked targets to the south of the city and regime fighters launched a . counter attack near the main airport – Sirte was poised to become the . new front line with thousands of rebel fighters, tanks, artillery and . rocket launchers moving to holding positions near the town of  Ras . Lanuf. The importance of that military operation was illustrated by Nato . carrying out 29 strikes on mobile missile launchers around the town as . rebels blitzed advancing forces with volleys of Grad missiles. With Nato effectively ‘closing the ring’ around Sirte’s 100,000 . population, Defence Secretary Liam Fox said: ‘We have information that . there are some elements of the regime in Sirte. Where they are still . continuing to wage war on the people of Libya, we will continue to . degrade their military capabilities. ‘The regime needs to recognise that the game is up. It is all over and . they need to stop attacking their own people … but as long as they do . continue to attack the people, Nato will continue to attack.’ Yesterday rebel forces appeared to have been stalled by strong . resistance some 60 miles from Sirte while the defences of the town are . finalised under the direction of one of Gaddafi’s sons. The rebel . leadership, apparently trying to avoid repeating the bloodshed of the . battle for Tripoli, are working behind the scenes to secure the peaceful . surrender of Sirte but are said to believe this is a ‘distant hope’. Virtually untouched until recently by the civil war, Sirte is of both . symbolic and strategic importance – it stands on the main highway . between Tripoli and the rebel headquarters of Benghazi – and is . Gaddafi’s strongest remaining garrison town. Gaddafi ploughed huge sums . of money into Sirte, arming the local tribes and effectively buying . their loyalty months ago. Rebel fighters would face a difficult task to . take it without massive help from Nato airstrikes. Gaddafi has closely cultivated Sirte and its tribal leaders. After . Tripoli, it was his showpiece, where he would pitch one of his Bedouin . tents and entertain foreign dignitaries. Amnesty International claimed yesterday it had uncovered evidence that . forces loyal to Gaddafi massacred detainees at two military camps in . Tripoli this week as rebels seized control of the city. Detainees from a military camp in Khilit al-Ferjan described how, on . Tuesday evening, 160 of them fled a metal hangar after two guards told . them the gates were unlocked. As they barged through the gates, two other guards opened fire and threw  hand grenades. Only two dozen managed to escape. The second wave of killings is said to have happened on Wednesday at the . Qasr Ben Ghashir military camp, when guards shot five detainees.As the . search for the absent dictator continued, British Tornado jets pounded . bunkers in Sirte overnight. Scorch marks are left on the grass following the death of Gaddafi fighters who were bound and apparently shot . The bodies of Gaddafi fighters, some bound and apparently shot, are cleared away from the roundabout outside the Bab Al Azizia . Civilians evacuate the centre of Libya as rebels try and flush out forces loyal to Gaddafi house-by-house . A rebel fighter walks inside the Abu Salim prison in Tripoli today. It has been emptied completely . A Libyan walks inside the Abu Salim prison in Tripoli which has been emptied. It was the scene of a massacre in 1996 . Rebel fighters shoot at Gaddafi loyalists during uprisings in the Abu Salim district, Tripoli. It was one of the last districts loyal to the leader . Bloodied bodies of loyalist fighters lie dead at the south entrance of the Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli yesterday . Wanted! Poster advertising £1million bounty if Libyan dictator Gaddafi is caught .
British Tornado jets pound bunkers in Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte .
Rebels face resistance from the dictator's loyalists in Tripoli .
£1bn frozen Libyan funds made available to National Transitional Council .
New evidence that Gaddafi's adopted daughter WASN'T killed by U.S. in 1986 .
Gaddafi forces damage a plane at Tripoli airport in retaliatory strikes .
Twenty African states recognise rebels as Libya's legitimate government .
It was once the symbol of Gaddafi's strength over the west, a brutal image of power and victory. Now it stands ruined with the Mad Dog's illusion of power over the country shattered, like the windows in his once regal compound. Built in 1986, after the US air strikes in Libya, the iconic statue shows a fist crushing an American aircraft and was the majestic backdrop for many of the dictator's speeches. In a final gesture of contempt rebels forces climbed and painted the statue screaming victory as their dictator remains absent, presumably in hiding. Scroll down for video . Ransacked: Gaddafi's Bab Al Azaziya compound in Tripoli is trashed - the dictator's whereabouts is still unknown . Triumphant: Gaddafi used the gold fist statue as a backdrop to many speeches . RAF warplanes blasted missile launchers and a command bunker in Colonel Gaddafi’s home town of Sirte yesterday as rebel forces prepared to launch an attack. SAS men with Arab special forces were said to be carrying out reconnaissance for Nato and rebels around the Gaddafi stronghold for what  Libyan officials say could be the ‘last great battle’ of the war. Reports have claimed that the dictator and some of his sons are in the town together with thousands of his troops and clan fighters whose loyalty Gaddafi bought when he created Sirte as effectively his second capital. Fresh battles rage: A Libyan man runs across the street seeking shelter from sniper fire in Tripoli today . A rebel fighter shoots during an intense gun battle in Abu Salim, yesterday. Today they were still facing pockets of resistance . For the second day running, RAF Tornado . GR4s attacked targets in and around the coastal town, 250 miles east of . Tripoli, as Nato once again ‘softened’ regime defences before a rebel . offensive. The Tornados took off from RAF Marham in Norfolk on a long-range strike . mission firing a salvo of Storm Shadow precision-guided missiles against . a large command and control bunker. It followed strikes by Tornados the previous day on three mobile missile . launchers for Scud missiles. Regime commanders are said to have kept . back an arsenal of 240 Scuds which would be capable of carrying chemical . weapons such as mustard gas. Rebels point to reports that more than 100 . of their captured fighters and supporters have been executed in Sirte . and this has fuelled their determination to storm it. WARNING: Graphic content below . Battle for Tripoli: A rebel points his rifle at a man accused of being a mercenary fighting for Gaddafi, outside a fire station in the capital . A Libyan worker loads smoke-damaged mannequins from a burnt out clothes shop, into a truck after the intense battle in Abu Salim district . Ali al-Tarhuni, who is responsible for finance and oil in the Libyan rebels' Transitional National Council, speaks out at a press conference . Despite continued fighting in Tripoli – RAF Tornados and Typhoons again . attacked targets to the south of the city and regime fighters launched a . counter attack near the main airport – Sirte was poised to become the . new front line with thousands of rebel fighters, tanks, artillery and . rocket launchers moving to holding positions near the town of  Ras . Lanuf. The importance of that military operation was illustrated by Nato . carrying out 29 strikes on mobile missile launchers around the town as . rebels blitzed advancing forces with volleys of Grad missiles. With Nato effectively ‘closing the ring’ around Sirte’s 100,000 . population, Defence Secretary Liam Fox said: ‘We have information that . there are some elements of the regime in Sirte. Where they are still . continuing to wage war on the people of Libya, we will continue to . degrade their military capabilities. ‘The regime needs to recognise that the game is up. It is all over and . they need to stop attacking their own people … but as long as they do . continue to attack the people, Nato will continue to attack.’ Yesterday rebel forces appeared to have been stalled by strong . resistance some 60 miles from Sirte while the defences of the town are . finalised under the direction of one of Gaddafi’s sons. The rebel . leadership, apparently trying to avoid repeating the bloodshed of the . battle for Tripoli, are working behind the scenes to secure the peaceful . surrender of Sirte but are said to believe this is a ‘distant hope’. Virtually untouched until recently by the civil war, Sirte is of both . symbolic and strategic importance – it stands on the main highway . between Tripoli and the rebel headquarters of Benghazi – and is . Gaddafi’s strongest remaining garrison town. Gaddafi ploughed huge sums . of money into Sirte, arming the local tribes and effectively buying . their loyalty months ago. Rebel fighters would face a difficult task to . take it without massive help from Nato airstrikes. Gaddafi has closely cultivated Sirte and its tribal leaders. After . Tripoli, it was his showpiece, where he would pitch one of his Bedouin . tents and entertain foreign dignitaries. Amnesty International claimed yesterday it had uncovered evidence that . forces loyal to Gaddafi massacred detainees at two military camps in . Tripoli this week as rebels seized control of the city. Detainees from a military camp in Khilit al-Ferjan described how, on . Tuesday evening, 160 of them fled a metal hangar after two guards told . them the gates were unlocked. As they barged through the gates, two other guards opened fire and threw  hand grenades. Only two dozen managed to escape. The second wave of killings is said to have happened on Wednesday at the . Qasr Ben Ghashir military camp, when guards shot five detainees.As the . search for the absent dictator continued, British Tornado jets pounded . bunkers in Sirte overnight. Scorch marks are left on the grass following the death of Gaddafi fighters who were bound and apparently shot . The bodies of Gaddafi fighters, some bound and apparently shot, are cleared away from the roundabout outside the Bab Al Azizia . Civilians evacuate the centre of Libya as rebels try and flush out forces loyal to Gaddafi house-by-house . A rebel fighter walks inside the Abu Salim prison in Tripoli today. It has been emptied completely . A Libyan walks inside the Abu Salim prison in Tripoli which has been emptied. It was the scene of a massacre in 1996 . Rebel fighters shoot at Gaddafi loyalists during uprisings in the Abu Salim district, Tripoli. It was one of the last districts loyal to the leader . Bloodied bodies of loyalist fighters lie dead at the south entrance of the Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli yesterday . Wanted! Poster advertising £1million bounty if Libyan dictator Gaddafi is caught .
1986, after the US air strikes in Libya, the compound in Tripoli is trashed - the dictator's Gaddafi’s home town of Sirte yesterday as rebel rebels' Transitional National Council, speaks out at a press conference . Despite continued strong . resistance some 60 miles from Sirte evidence that . forces loyal to Gaddafi massacred continued, British Tornado jets pounded . bunkers