Libyan rebels capture Gaddafi's compound
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Xinhua, August 24, 2011
Libyan rebels Tuesday captured Muammar Gaddafi's Bab al-Azizya compound in capital Tripoli after heavy fighting and looted an armory inside the vast barracks, while the whereabouts of the embattled Libyan leader and his sons remain unknown to the moment.
TV footage of al-Jazeera showed that rebels swarmed into the huge compound and looted sniper rifles and other weapons from an armory inside the once heavily-fortified stronghold of the Libyan strongman. Meanwhile, some people were taking pictures of the scene inside al-Azizya, so as to note down the moment that is considered marking their freedom.
Jubilant rebel fighters were seen roaming in front of a building damaged in a U.S. bomb attack decades ago, a symbol of Gaddafi's defiance to the West.
Some rebels tramped Gaddafi's pictures found in the building and destroyed a sculpture of the Libyan leader, who has ruled the country for over four decades. Some others shot into the air in celebration.
Plumes of black smoke were seen rising from inside the compound and loud explosions were resounding across the capital city.
Pro-Gaddafi forces have been engaged in fierce clashes with the rebel fighters across the capital city. Rebels storming the Bab al- Azizya compound initially met fierce resistance from inside the compound, but later the defense melted down.
Earlier reports on Tuesday by Arab television Al-Arabiya said NATO fired two rockets at Bab al-Azizya and destroyed parts of the wall circling the heavily-fortified compound. The reports quoted a rebel official as saying that the rebel forces "are trying to enter the fortified stronghold through the Old Gate on the western side."
In addition to the rebel's capture of the landmark Bab al- Azizya compound, the rebels has also reportedly overrun the eastern oil hub of Ras Lanuf along the road to Sirte, Gaddafi's hometown.
As latest reports said the rebels had not found any trace of Gaddafi and his sons inside the compound, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, head of the Russian chess federation, said Tuesday that Gaddafi told him by telephone that he was still in Tripoli and did not intend to leave the country.
Ilyumzhinov said he received a brief call from Gaddafi and his eldest son Mohammed Tuesday afternoon.
"Mohammed Gaddafi said he is in Tripoli beside his father," Ilyumzhinov told Interfax news agency.
Mohammed claimed in the telephone conversation that the forces loyal to his father were trying to repel the rebels out of the city, Ilyumzhinov said. Then Mohammed passed the phone to his father, who told the chess president that he was "alive and healthy in Tripoli, and not going to leave Libya," Gaddafi was quoted by Ilyumzhinov as saying.
The Libyan leader said he was still confident of winning the war and asked people not to believe "the mendacious reports by Western television companies," said Ilyumzhinov.
Earlier in the day, Saif al-Islam, the well-known son of Gaddafi, made a brief visit to the Rixos hotel housing dozens of foreign journalists, saying his father was still in Tripoli and safe. Ilyumzhinov played chess with Gaddafi when he visited Tripoli in June.
In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday that the Pentagon still believes that Gaddafi had not left the country, although the rebels appeared to have controlled most of the capital Tripoli.
In Brussels, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said Tuesday that the military alliance would not put boots on the ground and would only play a "supportive" role upon request in the post-Gaddafi Libya.
Also on Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama agreed with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy over phone that the end of Gaddafi's rule is "inevitable and near," and that the two countries will not end supporting the Libyan rebels militarily until Gaddafi has laid down arms.
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