Libya rebels fear for Gaddafi prisoners

The notorious Abu Salim prison was stormed by rebels earlier this week

Rebel military spokesman Col Ahmed Omar Bani said almost 50,000 people arrested in recent months were unaccounted for.The rebels believe they may be being held in underground bunkers, which have since been abandoned.Rights groups have seen evidence that dozens of people have been massacred near prisons, but Col Bani did not accuse anyone of killing the prisoners."The number of people arrested over the past months is estimated at between 57,000 and 60,000," he said in a news conference in Benghazi."Between 10,000 and 11,000 prisoners have been freed up until now... so where are the others?"The colonel appealed for anyone with information to come forward, and said it would be "catastrophic" if they had been killed.

Hunt for Gaddafi

The BBC's Jon Leyne in Benghazi says many rebels and their supporters were detained by fighters loyal to fugitive leader Col Muammar Gaddafi during the struggle for Benghazi and other cities.He says many other activists - and even those just suspected of supporting the revolution - were arrested in waves of security crackdowns, particularly when Col Gaddafi was trying to stop the revolution from spreading to Tripoli.Human Rights Watch has said it has evidence that pro-Gaddafi forces killed at least 17 prisoners and carried out "suspected arbitrary executions of dozens of civilians,

including professionals" in the days before Tripoli fell to the rebels.Reuters news agency claimed earlier this week to have discovered an apparent massacre site in Tripoli; and separately about 50 charred corpses were found in a warehouse south of the capital on Saturday.But it was unclear who was responsible for any of the killings.The rebels stormed Tripoli earlier in the week and took control of almost all of it after two days of fighting.Although sporadic gunshots could be heard in the capital on Sunday, the rebels say they are now in control and are trying to restore basic utilities such as water supply.However, Gaddafi loyalists are continuing to fight in other parts of the country - particularly around Col Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte.Some rebel commanders believe the colonel and his inner circle are likely to have fled to Sirte.But other rumours swirling
around include allegations that the Gaddafis are hiding in Tripoli; that some of them fled to Algiers; or that some have already taken refuge in Europe.On the weekend, a spokesman for the Gaddafi regime offered to open talks with the rebel government, the National Transitional Council.But the NTC rejected the offer, describing the colonel as a criminal who should be put on trial.The UK Foreign Secretary William Hague described the offer of talks as delusional.

Libyan rebels head to the captured town of Bin Jawad, 62 miles from Gaddafi's last coastal stronghold of Sirte. Photograph: Gianluigi Guercia

Gadhafi claims 'tactical' retreat from compound

Sergey Ponomarev - Rebel fighters gesture as one of them stands on a monument inside Moammar Gadhafi's main compound in Bab Al-Aziziya in Tripoli, Libya, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi claimed in a radio address early Wednesday that he retreated from his Tripoli compound in a "tactical move," hours after rebel fighters celebrated and looted inside his former residence and military barracks.Fighters first entered the compound after several hours of fighting on Tuesday. Hundreds of rebels fired their weapons into the air and took anything in the facility they could grab, including ammunition and arms. They found new rifles still in their paper wrappings, The Associated Press reported. Scuffles broke out, with people pushing and shoving to get inside two white buildings where the rifles, machine-guns and handguns were stored.
A TV channel is quoting Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi as saying he retreated from his Tripoli compound in a "tactical move" after 64 NATO airstrikes turned it to rubble.Al-Rai TV said Wednesday it would air the comments from Gadhafi in full soon and reported an excerpt in which the leader of Libya's crumbling regime vows his forces will resist "the aggression with all strength" until either victory or death.It was not clear from the remarks when Gadhafi abandoned the Bab al-Azaziya compound, which was overrun by rebel fighters Tuesday.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Hundreds of Libyan rebels stormed Moammar Gadhafi's compound Tuesday, charging wildly through the symbolic heart of the crumbling regime as they killed loyalist troops, looted armories and knocked the head off a statue of the besieged dictator. But they found no sign of the man himself.

 The storming of Bab al-Aziziya, long the nexus of Gadhafi's power, marked the effective collapse of his 42-year-old regime. But with Gadhafi and his powerful sons still unaccounted for — and gunbattles flaring across the nervous city — the fighters cannot declare victory.The rebel force entered the compound after fighting for five hours with Gadhafi loyalists outside, using mortars, heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft guns. They killed some of those who defended the compound and hauled off thousands of rifles, crates of weapons and trucks with guns mounted on the back in a frenzy of looting."We're looking for Gadhafi now. We have to find him now," said Sohaib Nefati, a rebel sitting against a wall with a Kalashnikov ifle.Abdel-Aziz Shafiya, a 19-year-old rebel dressed in camouflage with a rocket-propelled grenade slung over one shoulder and a Kalashnikov over the other, said the rebels believe Gadhafi is inside the compound but hiding underground."Wasn't he the one who called us rats? Now he is the rat underground," he said.Shafiya said he felt "an explosion of joy" to be standing inside Gadhafi's stronghold in the capital after a lightning-quick rebel advance. He had left the rebel-held western city of Misrata just two days earlier."I lost friends and relatives and now I can walk into Gadhafi's house," Shafiya said, choking up with emotion. "Many of my friends have died and now all of that meant something."Tripoli's new rebel military chief, Abdel-Hakim Belhaj, said at nightfall that a small area of the vast compound was still under the control of regime fighters and heavy shooting was heard across Tripoli toward midnight.

Rebels repulse attack by Gaddafi forces

AFP
Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi launched a counter-offensive on rebels in the southwest but were repulsed, after NATO warplanes blitzed military targets in the capital.
An AFP correspondent reported that rebels on Sunday repelled an attack aimed at recapturing the desert hamlet of Gualish on the road to Tripoli, which loyalist forces lost to the insurgents in fierce fighting earlier this month.
Rebels in Gualish said they had prevented regime forces from getting within a kilometre of the hamlet, and that they had been sent reinforcements from Zintan, the main rebel base in western Libya.
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Before launching their counter-attack, loyalist forces sent dozens of civilians into the hamlet to announce their imminent arrival, rebel witnesses told AFP.
An AFP correspondent within earshot reported that two hours of intense fighting then took place.
In the capital itself, Gaddafi's compound again came under NATO air attack.
"We will keep fighting the Gaddafi mafia till it's gone," said Adam Nouh, an oil engineer, cheering the rebel forces on.
In Brega, six dead bodies lay in the morge. Hospital officials and volunteers pointed out four bodies of rebels and two others who they said were Gaddafi mercenaries. They said they found Nigerian identification papers on one body.
Rebels say Gaddafi has turned to African mercenaries to fight his battles for him.
Outside in the street, hundreds of people cheered, flicked "V-for-victory" signs, and some fired volleys into the air to celebrate their victory.
Witnesses said about 15 Gaddafi loyalists were killed or wounded in the assault on Brega but that the casualties were taken away by the Libyan leader's forces.
Without enough weapons to go round, some had simply filled Pepsi bottles with petrol and stuffed them with cloth strips ready to light up and hurl.
In Ajdabiyah hospital, seven wounded men were wheeled in to the operating room. Some were bloodied and delirious. Those who could, held up two fingers. Bystanders shouted: "Allahu Akbar" -- God is great.