Gaddafi defies all and parades in the streets of Tripoli

In an open-top 4x4, Gaddafi, sporting shades and a hunting hat, hailed bystanders with clenched fists yesterday.

"God, Libya, Muammar and no one else," supporters chanted as loud explosions rocked the Bab al-Aziziya neighbourhood home to Ghaddafi’s residence and a base for most foreign journalists in the capital.

NATO initially denied it had again bombed Tripoli, but an alliance spokesman later acknowledged that raids had targeted the outskirts.

Cracks opened up in the Western alliance as Washington rebuffed French appeals for more assistance with the enforcement of the UN Security Council resolution authorising all necessary means to protect Libyan civilians.

In a bid to put on a united front, however, British Prime Minister David Cameron, France's President Nicolas Sarkozy and US President Barack Obama penned a joint article dismissing a Libyan future with Kadhafi as "unthinkable" and an "unconscious betrayal" by the rest of the world.

"It is unthinkable that someone who has tried to massacre his own people can play a part in their future government," said the article, which appeared in the London Times, The Washington Post and French daily Le Figaro.

Responding, Gaddafi’s daughter Aisha said calls for her father to step down were insulting for all Libyans.

"To speak of Gaddafi’s resignation is a humiliation for all Libyans," she said in a brief statement at her father's Tripoli residence before hundreds of young supporters.