Rebels overrun Gaddafi compound

From BBC News Africa: Rebels overrun Gaddafi compound

Libyan rebels have taken control of Col Muammar Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli, one of the final areas that remained under his control.

TV footage showed fighters breaking off the head of a statue of the Libyan leader and kicking it along the ground. They also seized items from his home.

It is not known if Col Gaddafi or any of his family are inside the compound.

Rebel leaders say they are in control of almost all of the capital, though there are still pockets of resistance.


Heavily armed fighters had streamed into the capital on Tuesday morning in dozens of pick-up trucks to take part in the attack on Bab al-Aziziya.

After five hours of intense fighting, they breached one of the main gates and then quickly overran the compound.

The rebels were shown destroying statues - including the iconic giant golden hand crushing a US fighter jet - firing guns in the air in celebration, and seizing weapons and ammunition from arms depots.

Col Gaddafi's Bedouin tent, where he used to receive visiting foreign dignitaries, was set on fire, while his golf cart, in which he appeared frequently, was paraded around the compound.

There were no obvious signs of resistance in the compound by Tuesday evening, despite reports that hundreds of Gaddafi loyalists had been tasked with guarding it.

"We have won the battle," Abdul Hakim Belhaj, the top rebel commander in Tripoli, told al-Jazeera. "They fled like rats."

"We entered the tyrant's offices, his rooms, we searched everywhere, but there was no-one."

However, there are still pockets of resistance in the capital, including the Abu Salim and al-Hadba districts, and near the Hotel Rixos, where many foreign journalists are staying.

The BBC's Rana Jawad in Tripoli says there is a real sense that this is the end of Col Gaddafi's rule, but the proper celebrations will not begin until he and his family are found.

It is not known if they were in Bab al-Aziziya on Tuesday, but the complex is reported to be connected by underground tunnels to various key locations across the city.

The Gaddafi family are also believed to have access to numerous safe houses in Tripoli and beyond.

The situation is unclear in the colonel's hometown of Sirte, which has been a stronghold of regime loyalists. Reports said retreating government troops were heading there.

Next Moves
Early on Tuesday, Col Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam spoke to journalists at the Rixos Hotel, hours after the rebels said he had been captured.

He insisted the government had "broken the backbone" of the rebel offensive and that his father's supporters were winning the battle.

But Western politicians, rebel leaders and the Nato military alliance dismissed his claims.

"A brief appearance at the dead of night doesn't indicate to me somebody who is in control of a country, or capital, or of anything much at all really," Nato spokeswoman Oana Lungescu told reporters in Brussels.

Meanwhile, the US state department said it was clear that the regime had almost collapsed. Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the US would seek to release between $1bn and $1.5bn (£600m and £900m) in frozen Libyan funds in the coming days, and hand the money to the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC).

Members of the NTC, which has so far been based in the eastern city of Benghazi, said they planned to fly to Tripoli on Wednesday to start work on forming a new government.

NTC chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil also said all Gaddafi aides would face justice and fair criminal trials.

"I will stand trial for years I served as a minister in the Gaddafi government," he told a news conference in Benghazi.

He advised Libyans to be tolerant, saying they should "avoid taking matters into their own hands and... abide by court rulings".

The rebels swept into Tripoli at the weekend, but after a swift advance they met stiff resistance in a number of areas on Monday.

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.

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