NTC officials had indicated they would disclose the names of the Tripoli-based officials in their leadership team at the right time — after keeping them secret until now for their own safety. But there was no word on this by mid-Monday.

However, TNC member Abdullah Gzema, said four council members had traveled to Tripoli to prepare for Gaddafi’s downfall before rebel fighters closed in on the city.

He said rebel leaders wanted civilian authorities, not frontline fighters, to control security in Tripoli and elsewhere. to prepare for Gaddafi’s overthrow.

Another NTC member, Suleiman al-Sahli, said there would be no wholesale purging of Gaddafi’s administration and security forces, such as happened in Iraq after Saddam Hussein’s fall.

“We will work with them, except for those who were very close to Gaddafi, but I think they have gone already,” he said.