Rebel commanders said yesterday they were readying a new advance against forces defending Gaddfi's hometown Sirte, seeking to flush out the elusive strongman, who has a $1.7 million price on his head.
British Defence Minister Liam Fox said Nato was helping the rebels with intelligence and reconnaissance to find Gaddafi, but the Western alliance denied his claim.
However, an AFP reporter discovered that French and British operatives are working with rebels as they press towards Sirte, 360 kilometres east of Tripoli.
One excited group of rebels said they thought they might have trapped Gaddafi and some of his sons in a building -- though there was in fact no indication Gaddafi was inside, reports Reuters.
"They are in a small hole," said one fighter, Muhammad Gomaa -- but like many in the irregular forces that have overthrown the 69-year-old Gaddafi, he seemed to be expressing more hope than reality. "Today we finish. Today we will end that."
As the six-month rebellion against the former colonel appeared to be drawing to an end, rebel chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil said it had "resulted in more than 20,000 dead."
He also said countries that had helped the rebel cause would be rewarded accordingly.
"We promise to favour the countries which helped us, especially in the development of Libya. We will deal with them according to the support which they gave us," he told a news conference in the eastern city of Benghazi.
Rebel commanders said that while they control most of Tripoli, hot spots remain where sniper fire, rocket explosions and heavy weaponry make life dangerous.
"Heavy shooting is going on in central Tripoli just at the doorstep of our hotel. Street battle. Sniper fire. Hotel under gunfire attack," an AFP correspondent reported of the firefight, which last about 40 minutes.
The rebels are hell-bent on finding Gaddafi, so they can proclaim final victory in an uprising that began six months ago and was all but crushed by Gaddafi's forces before Nato warplanes gave crucial air support to the rebels.
Britain's Defence Minister Liam Fox told Sky news that Nato is providing "intelligence and reconnaissance assets to the NTC to help them track down Colonel Gaddafi and other remnants of the regime."
Nato spokeswoman Oana Lungescu denied that.
"No specific individual is a target as an individual, whether it's Gaddafi or anybody else," she told AFP in Brussels.
The alliance has repeatedly denied targeting Gaddafi since Nato-led warplanes began bombing regime forces in March and has always rejected claims that it was serving as the rebels' proxy air force.
"There is no military coordination with the rebels," Lungescu said.
Fighting is concentrated along the perimeters of Bab al-Aziziya and the neighbouring Abu Slim district, where Gaddafi reportedly released, armed and paid former prisoners to fight for his regime.
'DEAD OR ALIVE'
Col Gaddafi's whereabouts are unknown, though rebels have said they think he is still in or around Tripoli.
Libya's defected former prime minister Abdessalam Jalloud said embattled Gaddafi is either in southern Tripoli or has already fled to the desert.
"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.
A spokesman for Col Gaddafi, Moussa Ibrahim, has said he is safe and "leading the battle for our freedom and independence every day".
The rebels have announced an amnesty for anyone within his "inner circle" who captures or kills him.
The head of the NTC, Mustafa Abdul Jalil also said the NTC supported an offer by a group of businessmen to pay $1.7m for Col Gaddafi, "dead or alive".
Col Gaddafi faces an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity.
The rebel leadership have also offered Col Gaddafi safe passage out of the country, if he renounces his leadership.
In the last audio message believed to be from him, the fugitive leader vowed to fight until victory or martyrdom.
Rebel leaders say they want to put Gaddafi on trial even though he also faces charges of crimes against humanity along with his son Seif al-Islam and spymaster Abdullah al-Senussi at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
On Wednesday, the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) offered a $1.7 million reward for the capture of Gaddafi, dead or alive, and amnesty to any members of his inner circle who kill or capture him.
The 69-year-old Gaddafi has not been seen in public for weeks. But despite losing control of the oil-rich North African country he ruled with an iron first for 42 years, he is still managing to broadcast messages urging Libyans to drive out the "rats" -- as he disparagingly calls the rebels.
Source : The Daily Star
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