LIBYAN rebels are reported to have recaptured the town of Yafran, 100km south of Tripoli, adding to the sense that Muammar Gaddafi and his regime are beginning to lose their battle for survival.

Yafran is the most easterly of several towns stretched along the Nafusa mountains that are inhabited mostly by members of Libya's oppressed Berber minority who have been fighting government forces since the uprising began more than 15 weeks ago.

Rebel sources say Yafran's 70,000 inhabitants have been besieged since early April. British warplanes attacked Gaddafi's forces there late last week and a Reuters photographer who entered yesterday said the rebels appeared to have recaptured the town. "There's no sign of any Gaddafi forces," said the photographer, Youssef Boudlal. "I can see the rebel flags . . . We have seen posters and photos of Gaddafi that have been destroyed."

Asked about rebel gains in the Nafusa mountains, Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Khaled Kaim insisted that the regime's forces could retake lost territory within hours, but were holding back to avoid civilian casualties.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Gaddafi's forces had been so degraded that his removal was now inevitable. "It is not a question of if, but when, he will have to leave power," he said, adding coalition airstrikes had destroyed or damaged 1800 military targets, including 100 command-and-control centres, 700 ammunition stores and almost 500 tanks, armoured personnel carriers and rocket launchers.

His assessment echoed that of US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, who said Gaddafi's removal was "only a matter of time".

"You see signs the regime is getting shakier every day . . . It's just a question of when everybody around Gaddafi decides it's time to throw in the towel and throw him under the bus."