Battle for Tripoli Rages, Gadhafi on the Loose

The Libyan rebels offered a million-dollar bounty for the capture or murder of Muammar Gadhafi, as scattered pockets of Gadhafi loyalists continued to fight deep in the desert and in Gadhafi’s tribal home town.

“Gadhafi’s forces and his accomplices will not stop resisting until Gadhafi is caught or killed,” said Mustafa Abdel Jalil, head of the rebels’ National Council, who offered amnesty to any of his entourage who killed the missing strongman. Until then, he said, the war will continue and could unleash a “catastrophic event.” In an audio tape broadcast by satellite overnight, Gadhafi urged Libya’s tribes to “exterminate traitors, infidels and rats.”

After sacking Gadhafi’s headquarters at Bab al-Aziziya in Tripoli on Tuesday, Libyan rebels fought a fierce battle with Gadhafi’s top military commander at his farm in Tripoli on Wednesday and later found Gadhafi’s office director, Bashir Saleh, and his four children, at a family farm in Tripoli where he was in hiding.

Rebels also searched the Rixos Hotel — where journalists had been trapped by the regime for days — for Saadi Gadhafi, yet another son they claimed to have in custody but apparently did not.

Meanwhile, rebels continue to loot the Gadhafi family’s lavish excesses in Tripoli as the US pushes to unfreeze billions in assets for the rebels to secure their rule.

While some Gadhafi supporters began to surrender, Abdel Salam Jalloud, a close ally who switched sides last week, said Gadhafi planned to drop out of sight and then launch a guerrilla war. ”He believes he can gather his supporters and carry out attacks … He is delusional. He thinks he can return to power.”

Libya rebels claim to have Gadhafi and sons surrounded in Tripoli apartment

Group of rebels believes former leader hiding near main compound in Tripoli; last-ditch battles continue to rage in pockets of capital.

Reuters

A group of rebels besieging a cluster of apartment buildings near the compound of Muammar Gadhafi said they believed the man who led Libya for four decades was hiding in the buildings with some of his sons.

Rebels were exchanging fire with Gaddafi loyalists inside the buildings. They did not say why they believed Gadhafi and his sons were inside.

“They are together. They are in a small hole,” said one of the fighters involved in the battle, Muhammad Gomaa. “Today we finish. Today we will end that.”

Earlier on Thursday rebel forces began to purge Tripoli’s streets of diehard gunmen still loyal to Gadhafi in the final phase of the battle for the Libyan capital.

After rebel forces overran Gadhafi’s fortified Tripoli compound and trashed symbols of his 42-year rule, scattered loyalist fighters and snipers fought last-ditch battles in pockets across the city. Rebels also reported fighting deep in the desert and a standoff around Gadhafi’s home town.

Libya rebels battle to purge Tripoli of Gadhafi loyalists

Still no indication of Libyan leader’s whereabouts since he was forced from Tripoli compund earlier this week; rebel leader: End will come only when Gadhafi is captured, whether dead or alive.

Reuters

Rebel forces began to purge Tripoli’s streets of diehard gunmen still loyal to fugitive Muammar Gadhafi on Thursday in the final phase of the battle for the Libyan capital.

As a volley of shell fire broke the morning calm in Tripoli, rebels said they were confident they could mop up soldiers clinging to a leader now on the run and presumed to be in hiding in the country he ruled for four decades.