A Libyan rebel fighter arrives to reinforce his comrades as they make a final push to flush out pro-Gaddafi forces in Tripoli. Al-Orouba, a television station loyal to Muammar Gaddafi said on Thursday NATO warplanes were bombing his hometown of Sirte, Reuters news agency reported.The station cited no source and gave no details.Sirte has become Gaddafi\'s main stronghold after rebels swept through the Libyan capital Tripoli on Monday and captured his Bab al-Aziziya compound the following day.
Libyan rebels claimed to have captured the desert post of Al-Wyg in the southern Sahara, near the borders with Niger and Chad, on Thursday. \"We have taken control of Al-Wyg,\" a rebel spokesman, Mohammed Wardougou, said in the insurgents\' bastion of Benghazi, stressing it was \"strategic\" because it had a landing strip.
Heavy fighting has continued in parts of the Libyan capital Tripoli, which is now almost entirely in the hands of rebel fighters.The BBC has seen evidence of alleged torture and summary killingsblamed on Col Gaddafi\'s forces.The UN is set to unfreeze $1.5bn (£1bn) in frozen Libyan assets to help with immediate humanitarian needs.
In an audio message, Col Gaddafi has called on Libyans to \"fight and destroy\" the rebels.
The message was broadcast by a pro-regime TV station and addressed to the people of Sirte, which is the rebels\' next target. It was unclear when it was recorded.
\"Libya is for the Libyan people and not for the agents, not for imperialism, not for France, not for Sarkozy, not for Italy,\" said Col Gaddafi. \"Tripoli is for you, not for those who rely on Nato\".
Col Gaddafi: \"Do not leave Tripoli to the rats, fight them, defeat them as soon as possible\"
He urged the youth of Tripoli to fight \"street by street, alleyway by alleyway, house by house\" and said women too could fight \"from inside their homes\".
Libyan rebels have transferred their political leadership to the capital Tripoli from their base in Benghazi, a senior official of the National Transitional Council announced Friday.
\"I declare the beginning andassumption of the executive committee\'s work in Tripoli,\" committee vice-chairman Ali Tahuni told a press conference. \"Long live democratic and constitutional Libya and glory to our martyrs.\"
Libyan rebel fighters run for cover during a fight for the final push to flush out Muammar Gaddafi\'s forces in Abu Salim district in Tripoli August 25, 2011. Libyan rebels stormed Tripoli\'s Abu Salimdistrict, one of the main holdouts of forces loyal to Gaddafi in the capital, after NATO air strikes on a building in the area on Thursday.
Rebel fighters were sweeping through houses to flush out snipers and were emerging with dozens of prisoners, the correspondent said, adding that gunfights were ongoing.
Libya\'s rebel Transitional National Council is unlikely to ask for an international peacekeeping force to stabilize the country, but may seek outside help on policing, the State Department said on Thursday.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland would not comment on whether the United States, which has pledged not to put \"boots on the ground\" in post-war Libya, would take part in assisting with police efforts.
But she said Washington would look favorably on a Libyan request to the United Nations.
The Defense Department pushed back on assertions Thursday that either NATO or the US military is actively engaged in a manhunt for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, underscoring ongoing sensitivities over the strict parameters of the UN mission there.
More than 30 men believed to be fighters loyal to Muammar Gaddafi have been killed at a military encampment in central Tripoli and at least two were bound with plastic handcuffs, indicating they had been executed.
A Reuters correspondent counted 30 bodies riddled with bullets in an area of the Libyan capital where there had beenfighting between Gaddafi forces and rebels.
Embattled Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi is either in southern Tripoli or has already fled to the desert, his defected former prime minister Abdessalam Jalloud said on Thursday.
“He has only four people left around him. There are two possibilities: either he is hiding in the southern part of Tripoli or he left some time ago,” Jalloud, who fled Tripoli and has been in Italy since Saturday, told a press conference in Rome.
In the first scenario, Qaddafi will remain holed up in the south of Tripoli “until roads reopen and then he will emerge perhaps disguised as a woman or something else to leave” the capital, Jalloud said.
“The second possibility is that he already fled a while ago and is either at the border with Algeria, or in Sirte or Sabha, and he will then cross the desert,” the ex-premier said.
Jalloud was Qaddafi’s right-hand man in the 1970s and 1980s but had been increasingly distanced from politics starting in the 1990s following a reported fallout with his childhood friend.
On Sunday he said he believed it was too late for Qaddafi to strike a deal to leave power and he would likely be killed.
Jalloud said he has had contacts with the leaders of the National Transitional Council, and had received their approval to encourage Libyans to rebel against Qaddafi and mobilize support abroad.
While not part of the NTC, Jalloud said they were “in the same boat” and that he plans to form a secular, liberal, nationalist party.
Jalloud said he tried to escape Libya six times by sea and 12 times by land during recent months.
Italian media has speculated he was finally able to get out only with the assistance of foreign diplomats or intelligence agents, or the help of Italian oil company ENI.
Jalloud insisted however that he is not beholden to anyone.
A Pentagon spokesman says the U.S. military is not engaged in a manhunt for Moammar Gadhafi, the Libyan leader whose whereabouts are unknown.
Marine Col. David Lapan said Thursday that the U.S. is conducting aerial surveillance of Libya in support of NATO’s military mission to protect civilians from attack by government forces. But he said this does not amount to targeting Gadhafi. He said it is not NATO’s mission to target or hunt down individuals.
His statement conflicted with comments by British Defense Secretary Liam Fox, who said NATO intelligence and reconnaissance assets are being used to try to hunt down Gadhafi.
“I am a free person, completely independent. I don’t owe anything to Italy, or Russia, or France,” he said in response to a question from AFP.
Libyan rebels rummaging through Moammar Gadhafi\'s compound discovered a photo album with pictures of Condoleezza Rice, who has long fascinated the Libyan leader.
In an interview in 2007 with Al-Jazeera TV, Gadhafi gushed about the former secretary of State, the Associated Press reports.
\"I support my darling black African woman,\" he said. \"I admire and am very proud of the way she leans back and gives orders to the Arab leaders. ... Leezza, Leezza, Leezza. ... I love her very much. I admire her, and I\'m proud of her, because she\'s a black woman of African origin.\"
The following year, Rice traveled to Libya as part of the steps toward normalizing relations between the two countries. That capped Gadhafi\'s move to get rid of weapons of mass destruction and mend ties with the West.Rice, who visited Gadhafi\'s home during that trip, noted at the time that the United States \"doesn\'t have any permanent enemies.\"