Benghazi: Libya's revolutionary council said on Wednesday it was offering an amnesty to any of Muammar Gaddafi's entourage who kill or capture him.
Council chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil also said a Benghazi businessman, whom he did not identify, had offered a reward of two million Libyan dinars ($1.3 million) for Gaddafi's capture.
"The National Transitional Council announces that any of his inner circle who kill Gaddafi or capture him, society will give amnesty or pardon for any crime he has committed," he told a news conference.
'Victory, or martyrdom'
A defiant Muammar Gaddafi vowed Wednesday to fight on "until victory or martyrdom," as revolutionary fighters tried to end scattered attacks by regime loyalists in the nervous capital.
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The rebels say they have now taken control of nearly all of Tripoli, but sporadic gunfire could still be heard Wednesday, and Gaddafi loyalists fired shells and assault rifles at fighters who had captured the Libyan leader's personal compound one day earlier.
The streets of the city were still largely deserted Wednesday, scattered with debris, broken glass and other remnants of fighting, while rebel fighters manned checkpoints every few hundred yards.
Rebel leaders, meanwhile, made their first moves to set up a new government in the capital. During Libya's six-month civil war, opposition leaders had established their interim administration, the National Transitional Council, in the eastern city of Benghazi, which fell under rebel control shortly after the outbreak of widespread anti-regime protests in February.
"Members of the council are now moving one by one from Benghazi to Tripoli," said Mansour Saif Al Nasr, the Libyan opposition's new ambassador to France. He said that Tripoli is "secure and our guys are checking all the areas."
The deputy rebel chief, Mahmoud Jibril, was to meet later Wednesday with French President Nicholas Sarkozy, one of the earliest and staunchest supporters of the Libyan opposition, along with British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Gaddafi's audio message Wednesday
Even as his 42-year-old regime was crumbling around him, Gaddafi vowed not to surrender. In an audio message early Wednesday, he called on residents of the Libyan capital and loyal tribesmen across his North African nation to free Tripoli from the "devils and traitors" who have overrun it.
The broadcast came a day after hundreds of Libyan rebels stormed Gadhafi's fortress-like Bab Al Aziziya compound in the capital but found no sign of the longtime leader. Late Sunday, the rebels entered Tripoli, pouring into the Mediterranean metropolis of some 2 million people in a stunning breakthrough.
On Wednesday morning, rebel fighters said they still did not have full control of Bab Al Aziziya. Mohammad Amin, a field commander, said regime loyalists continued to fire into the complex.
At one point, revolutionary fighters came under fire and briefly took cover, some running and others speeding toward the gate in pickup trucks, then returned. Shells were also fired at the complex.
It's not clear where the shooting originated, but Amin said holdouts among regime loyalists have entrenched themselves in areas near the compound.
Gaddafi's still in Tripoli - rebels
Gaddafi is still somewhere in Tripoli and clashes were under way on Wednesday in a southern area of the city where he may be hiding, a rebel official told Reuters.
"We think Gaddafi is still hiding somewhere in Tripoli. He is likely to be in the Al Hadhba Al Khadra area," the official in Tripoli, who gave his name as Abdul Rahman, told Reuters by telephone. "There is fighting in the Al Hadhba Al Khadra area."
Elections
Tripoli/Rome: Libya will hold elections in eight months and Muammar Gaddafi will be tried in the country, opposition leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil said in comments published Wednesday.
"In eight months we will hold legislative and presidential elections. We want a democratic government and a just constitution," promised Abdul Jalil, chairman of the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC).
"Above all we do not wish to continue to be isolated in the world as we have been up to now," he added in comments published in the Italian La Repubblica daily.
Jalil said the "new" Libya "must be a different country from the past, based on the principles of freedom, equality and fraternity," and will have "strong relations with other countries, based on mutual respect and cooperation."
"We will be an active member of the international community and we will respect the treaties signed in the past," he said.
Gaddafi urges residents to cleanse Tripoli
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Wednesday urged residents to cleanse Tripoli of "rats", after rebels overran his compound in the centre of the capital.
In an audio message on Syrian-based Arrai Oruba television station and rebroadcast by satellite channel Al-Arabiya, Gaddafi also said he had walked incognito through the streets of Tripoli.
"I walked incognito, without anyone seeing me, and I saw youths ready to defend their city," the strongman said, without specifying when he took to the streets. He also urged residents to "cleanse Tripoli of rats."
No sign of Gaddafi
Tripoli celebrated into the early hours of Wednesday after revolutionaries overran Muammar Gaddafi's compound, despite finding no sign of the Libyan strongman or his sons.
Celebratory gunfire rocked the city when news spread that the insurgents had breached the walls of Bab Al Azizya compound in the centre of the capital and had sent Gaddafi's forces fleeing.
But Gaddagi loyalists still held out in parts of the city, and were in control of the Rixos Hotel, headquarters of the foreign journalists accredited to the regime, preventing any of them from leaving.
Powerful explosions rock Tripoli
Two powerful blasts thought to be caused by an air attack rocked Tripoli early Wednesday, as a NATO warplane flew over the city.
The explosions came after a night of shooting as fighting continued following the storming of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's compound by revolutionaries.
The leader of an anti-regime group told an Agency correspondent that pro-Gaddafi fighters were hidden on the road to Tripoli airport.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in Paris he had agreed with his US counterpart Barack Obama to continue military action against Gaddafi under the March UN mandate until he lays down his weapons.
Libyan revolutionaries seize Gaddafi compound
Libyan opposition fighters on Tuesday captured Muammar Gaddafi’s heavily fortified Bab Al Aziziya compound and headquarters in Tripoli after a day of fierce fighting.
The defenders had fled, and there was no immediate word on the whereabouts of Gaddafi or his family.
“They breached the surrounding cement walls and entered inside. They have taken Bab Al Aziziya. Completely. It is finished,” an AFP correspondent in the area said. “It is an incredible sight.”
Only minutes earlier, opposition spokesman Colonel Ahmad Omar Bani said from Benghazi: “Our forces are surrounding Bab Al Azizya. There is a fierce battle going on there. We are now controlling one of the gates, the western entrance.”
Amid the fighting, four more countries — Iraq, Morocco, Bahrain and Nigeria — moved to recognise the National Transitional Council (NTC) on Tuesday, joining the US and major European Union countries in doing so.
More than 30 countries now recognise the NTC as the legitimate representative of the Libyans.
Nato, meanwhile, said Gaddafi was “not a target” for the military alliance. “Nato does not target individuals,” Colonel Roland Lavoie, Operation Unified Protector spokesman, said.
Under control
Early on Tuesday, however, the opposition’s credibility took a beating when its claims that Gaddafi’s son, Saif Al Islam, had been arrested were refuted by the man himself, who appeared before cheering loyalists outside Bab Al Aziziya.’
“Tripoli is under our control. Everyone should rest assured. All is well in Tripoli,” Saif said. “I am here to refute the lies.”
Saif also said the regime’s forces had deliberately not tried to prevent the anti-regime fighters from entering the capital. “Allowing the fighters to enter Tripoli was a trick,” he said, without elaborating.
The opposition suffered another setback when Mohammad Gaddafi, the leader’s eldest son, escaped from house arrest.
Outside the capital, fighters said they had cut off a column of Gaddafi troops attempting to march on to Tripoli from the city of Sirte, Gaddafi’s hometown.
On a visit to Benghazi, Turkey’s foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said western leaders will take up the issue of the possible release of billions of dollars in frozen Libyan assets at a meeting this week.
Russian chess expert: Gaddafi in Tripoli
Meanwhile, Russian chess federation chief Kirsan Ilyumzhinov said on Tuesday that Gaddafi had told him by telephone that he was still in Tripoli, alive and well, and had no plans to leave the city.
Ilyumzhinov, who has visited Libya during the Nato bombing campaign and met Gaddafi, said the leader's eldest son Mohammad had called him by telephone on Tuesday afternoon.
"He gave the phone to his father, who said that he is in Tripoli, he is alive and healthy and is prepared to fight to the end," Ilyumzhinov told Reuters by telephone.
Gaddafi and family 'in Tripoli'
Gaddafi and his family are still in Tripoli, where his troops were engaged in fierce fighting with rebels outside his compound on Tuesday, his son Saif Al Islam said.
"Gaddafi and the entire family are in Tripoli," Saif told reporters at the Rixos hotel in the capital where many foreign journalists are housed.
He declined to give the precise location of the embattled strongman but his comments mark the first indication by the family of his whereabouts since rebel forces surged into the capital on Sunday.
Saif also said that the regime's forces had deliberately not tried to prevent the rebels from entering the capital.
"Allowing the rebels to enter Tripoli was a trick," he said, without elaborating.
Nato clueless about Gaddafi's whereabouts
Nato does not know where Gaddafi is and the military alliance does not view him as a target, a spokesman said on Tuesday.
"If you know, let me know. I don't have a clue, and I'm not sure actually that it really does matter, in the sense that the resolution of this situation will be political," military spokesman Colonel Roland Lavoie told a briefing from his base in Naples, when asked if Nato knew where Gaddafi was.
"I think everybody recognises that Gaddafi will likely not be part of that solution. He's not a key player anymore," he said.
Symbolic
"So from that perspective, we do not know, but I don't think it really matters, although I recognise the symbolic value that it could have for his supporters."
Lavoie added that if Gaddafi left Libya, it would not be an issue for Nato, whose mandate is to protect Libyan civilians.
Gaddafi forces depleted
Nato says it will continue Libya operations and will bomb Muammar Gaddafi's forces if they keep fighting.
Spokesman Col. Roland Lavoie also told reporters Tuesday that pro-Gaddafi forces are severely degraded and losing strength through desertions and defections.
Earlier, France's foreign minister earlier said he hopes Nato's air operation over Libya will end "as soon as possible" - once rebel fighters topple Gaddafi and his forces for good.
Alain Juppe says France and Britain were responsible for about 75 to 80 per cent of Nato air operations over Libya in recent months.
Nato said Tuesday that "the end is near" for Muammar Gaddafi, despite a defiant appearance from the Libyan leader's son Saif Al Islam, who was earlier reported to have been arrested.
UK says Gaddafi is cornered
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is cornered and his defeat is "only a matter of time", British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said Tuesday.
Clegg insisted the defiant appearance of Kadhafi's son and presumed successor Saif Al Islam in Tripoli, a day after rebels said they had captured him, was "not the sign of some great comeback for the Gaddafi regime".
China
China expressed hopes Tuesday its billions of dollars in trade with oil-rich Libya would continue, as a state-run newspaper called on the West to "clear up its mess" in the war-torn country.
China has ploughed billions of dollars into Libya's rail, oil and telecom sectors, and Beijing acknowledged that its investments had been hit by the revolt that erupted in February during the "Arab Spring".
On Tuesday, it expressed hopes its "mutually beneficial" trade ties with the country would continue, after earlier saying it respected the Libyan people's choice, but hoped stability would soon be restored.
"We are going to hit the hottest spots in Tripoli"
Seif Al Islam, with a full beard and wearing an olive-green T-shirt and camouflage trousers, turned up early Tuesday morning at the Rixos hotel, where about 30 foreign journalists are staying in Tripoli under the close watch of regime minders.
Riding in a white limousine amid a convoy of armored SUVs, he took reporters on a drive through parts of the city still under the regime's control, saying, "We are going to hit the hottest spots in Tripoli."
Saif Al Islam shook hands with supporters, beaming and flashing the "V for victory" sign. "We are here. This is our country. This is our people, and we live here, and we die here," he told AP Television News.
"And we are going to win, because the people are with us. That's why were are going to win. Look at them - look at them, in the streets, everywhere!"
When asked about the ICC's claim that he was arrested by rebels, he told reporters: "We are going to break the backbone of the rebels."
With input from agencies
