Rebels fighting Gaddafi loyalists

24 August 2011 Last updated at 06:30 ET

Tripoli has seen running battles with Gaddafi loyalists, and new Nato air strikes, a day after the Libyan rebels seized the fugitive leader’s compound.

Rebels fought loyalists in several southern and central areas of the capital, including a new front line to the east of the international airport.

Two bomb blasts shook the city as a Nato jet passed overhead.

Col Muammar Gaddafi’s whereabouts are unknown but he issued a message of defiance overnight.

In a broadcast speech, he said he had made a “tactical” retreat from his vast Bab al-Aziziya compound but the BBC’s Wyre Davies reports from the city that nobody there believes that version of events.

Pro-Gaddafi snipers appeared in Bab al-Aziziya itself after it was overrun by the rebels and the battle for complete control of Tripoli is continuing.

Col Gaddafi is thought to retain a strong following in two other cities, Sirte on the coast and Sebha 650km (400 miles) south of the capital, where fighting erupted this week.

Meanwhile, the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) means to begin the business of rebuilding the battle-scarred country, with a donor conference in Qatar and the dispatch of a team of officials from their stronghold Benghazi to Tripoli.

Gaddafi vanishes

Gunfire was heard again on Wednesday morning close to Tripoli’s Rixos Hotel, where 35 foreign nationals, mostly journalists, have been confined by Gaddafi loyalists.

One rebel leader told AFP news agency that pro-Gaddafi forces were hidden on the road to the airport.

Armed residents in Tripoli remain vigilant as they continue to man their makeshift checkpoints with the help of rebel fighters, the BBC’s Rana Jawad reports from the city.

It was unclear what targets Nato was attacking but one unconfirmed report on Al-Arabiya TV said that loyalist artillery had been shelling the towns of Zuara and Ajelat, west of the capital.

It is not known if Col Gaddafi and his family were in Bab al-Aziziya on Tuesday when it was attacked but the leader promised “martyrdom or victory” in his speech.

In audio broadcast by the pro-Gaddafi Al-Urubah TV on Tuesday night, the Libyan leader added: “I came out undercover from my home in Tripoli without people seeing me and I found ng people on the streets. To be honest, I did not feel like Tripoli had fallen or that some had marched into it.”

The Gaddafi family are believed to have access to numerous safe houses in Tripoli and beyond, and the situation is unclear in the colonel’s hometown of Sirte, which has been a stronghold of his loyalists.

Sebha has a significant military and air force base and, if Col Gaddafi can reach it, it would provide him the option of easy desert escape routes into neighbouring Niger and Chad, according to the Associated Press news agency.

A rebel spokesman told the BBC negotiations were going on with people in Sebha and Sirte for a peaceful end to the conflict.

Funding appeal

NTV representatives have been preparing for high-level talks in Qatar with envoys of the US, UK, France, Turkey and the UAE to discuss how to move ahead in the post-Gaddafi Libya.

The head of the NTC’s acting cabinet, Mahmoud Jibril, said it was seeking $2.5bn (£1.5bn) in immediate aid.

Its immediate priority is to pay employees’ salaries and cover humanitarian costs but, in the longer term, money will be needed to repair Libya’s oil infrastructure.

Mr Jibril estimates that Libya has some $160-170bn in frozen assets. The US has said it will try to release up to $1.5bn in frozen Libyan assets.

The rebels swept into Tripoli at the weekend, and by Tuesday had overrun Col Gaddafi’s compound.

The uprising against Col Gaddafi’s 41-year rule began in February. The rebels held the east of the country and pockets of the west, before making their push towards the capital at the weekend.

Nato air strikes have been targeting Col Gaddafi’s forces, acting on a UN mandate to protect civilians. Critics accuse the alliance of siding with the rebels.

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