The World Food Programme on Tuesday said it has delivered food aid to thousands who have fled fighting in Bani Walid, where Libyan authorities claim Moamer Kadhafi's son Seif al-Islam is holed up.

"A WFP convoy delivered 137 metric tons of mixed food assistance on Sunday to Shmaikh, where thousands of people have fled from Bani Walid, 180 kilometres (110 miles) south-east of Tripoli," it said in a statement.

"The delivery includes pasta, rice, pulses, vegetable oil and tomato paste and is enough to feed 10,000 people for one month," the WFP said.

On Monday, fierce fighting raged in Bani Walid as new regime fighters attacked the town where according to the new Libyan authorities, Seif al-Islam is hiding, possibly with his father.

The WFP said it had begun stockpiling over 3,000 tons of food in Tripoli and Benghazi, "enough to cover the needs of up to 200,000 stranded people in Bani Walid and Sirte, as well as Sebha in the south where reports suggest large numbers of people are in need of food assistance."

It added that it had also shipped more than 30 metric tons of food to Shoarif, the first convoy of the food aid agency to reach southern Libya since March.