TUNIS - Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi made a second appeal for his people to "save Tripoli" from a rebel offensive, in an audio message played on state television on Sunday.

"It is the obligation of all Libyans. It is a question of life or death," he said. Gaddafi made a similar appeal earlier in the evening on state television, as rebels streamed into the capital.

Al Arabiya television aired images of Libyans celebrating in central Tripoli and tearing down Gadhafi posters, the first images from the city since rebels entered from the west earlier in the day.