US$1m for Gadhafi ... 'killed or captured'
Source: Agencies |
August 25, 2011, Thursday
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LIBYA'S new masters offered a million-dollar bounty for Moammar Gadhafi yesterday, after he urged his men to carry on a battle that kept the capital in a state of fear.
A day after rebel forces overran his Tripoli headquarters and trashed the symbols of his 42-year rule, rocket and machinegun fire from pockets of loyalists kept the rebels at bay as they tried to hunt down Gadhafi and his sons.
Western leaders who backed the revolt with NATO air power remained wary of declaring outright victory while the 69-year-old Gadhafi is at large.
He issued a rambling but defiant audio message overnight to remaining bastions of his supporters, some of whom may be tempted to mount an Iraq-style insurgency.
In Benghazi, the chairman of the National Transitional Council gave a sense of urgency to finding Gadhafi, who the rebels believe may still be in or around Tripoli, having left his Bab al-Aziziya compound in the capital before it fell on Tuesday.
Mustafa Abdel Jalil, who was one of Gadhafi's ministers before defecting in February, said the incoming administration would offer amnesty to any remaining member of Gadhafi's entourage who killed or captured him.
A local businessman, he added, was offering two million dinars (US$1.3 million) to anyone who caught him.
"To any of his inner circle who kill Gadhafi or capture him, society will give amnesty or pardon for any crime he has committed," Abdel Jalil told a news conference in Benghazi.
Abdel Salam Jalloud, a close ally of Gadhafi who switched sides in the past week, said the veteran leader had a plan to drop out of sight before launching a guerrilla campaign once NATO air forces had been called off.
"I believe he is in Tripoli," Jalloud said. "The rebels must open the roads, after they open the roads, he may dress in women's clothes and leave Tripoli to Algeria's borders or Chad."
Scattered battles flared across the Libyan capital yesterday, with pro-regime snipers cutting off the road to Tripoli's airport while other loyalist fighters launched repeated attacks on Gadhafi's captured private compound.
While opposition fighters claimed they had most of Tripoli under control, Gadhafi in hiding vowed in a recorded statement to fight on "until victory or martyrdom."
Gadhafi said his withdrawal from his headquarters in the heart of the capital was a tactical move after it had been hit by 64 NATO air strikes.
Urging Libyans to cleanse the streets of traitors, he said he had secretly toured Tripoli.
"I have been out a bit in Tripoli discreetly, without being seen by people, and ... I did not feel that Tripoli was in danger," Gadhafi said in his broadcast.
A spokesman for the Libyan leader said Gadhafi was ready to resist the rebels for months, or even years.
A day after rebel forces overran his Tripoli headquarters and trashed the symbols of his 42-year rule, rocket and machinegun fire from pockets of loyalists kept the rebels at bay as they tried to hunt down Gadhafi and his sons.
Western leaders who backed the revolt with NATO air power remained wary of declaring outright victory while the 69-year-old Gadhafi is at large.
He issued a rambling but defiant audio message overnight to remaining bastions of his supporters, some of whom may be tempted to mount an Iraq-style insurgency.
In Benghazi, the chairman of the National Transitional Council gave a sense of urgency to finding Gadhafi, who the rebels believe may still be in or around Tripoli, having left his Bab al-Aziziya compound in the capital before it fell on Tuesday.
Mustafa Abdel Jalil, who was one of Gadhafi's ministers before defecting in February, said the incoming administration would offer amnesty to any remaining member of Gadhafi's entourage who killed or captured him.
A local businessman, he added, was offering two million dinars (US$1.3 million) to anyone who caught him.
"To any of his inner circle who kill Gadhafi or capture him, society will give amnesty or pardon for any crime he has committed," Abdel Jalil told a news conference in Benghazi.
Abdel Salam Jalloud, a close ally of Gadhafi who switched sides in the past week, said the veteran leader had a plan to drop out of sight before launching a guerrilla campaign once NATO air forces had been called off.
"I believe he is in Tripoli," Jalloud said. "The rebels must open the roads, after they open the roads, he may dress in women's clothes and leave Tripoli to Algeria's borders or Chad."
Scattered battles flared across the Libyan capital yesterday, with pro-regime snipers cutting off the road to Tripoli's airport while other loyalist fighters launched repeated attacks on Gadhafi's captured private compound.
While opposition fighters claimed they had most of Tripoli under control, Gadhafi in hiding vowed in a recorded statement to fight on "until victory or martyrdom."
Gadhafi said his withdrawal from his headquarters in the heart of the capital was a tactical move after it had been hit by 64 NATO air strikes.
Urging Libyans to cleanse the streets of traitors, he said he had secretly toured Tripoli.
"I have been out a bit in Tripoli discreetly, without being seen by people, and ... I did not feel that Tripoli was in danger," Gadhafi said in his broadcast.
A spokesman for the Libyan leader said Gadhafi was ready to resist the rebels for months, or even years.
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