02:35
Reportage
More than 1,000 fighters trying to find the fallen dictator besieged an apartment in the centre of the city in the belief he was holed up inside with his sons.
He was nowhere to be seen but spoke via a broadcast on Syrian television urging women and children among his supporters to take up arms.
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The tyrant declared: “Bring out the men and women this time to purify Tripoli. Bring out the young to protect all alleyways and districts. They must fight and not give up.”
He urged the young to fight “street by street, alleyway by alleyway, house by house” and said women could fight “from inside their homes”.
Witnesses said Gaddafi loyalists were holding back the rebel attackers from several buildings in Tripoli’s Abu Salim district. Locals said sewers in the area ran with blood and the bodies of several regime soldiers lay on the ground.
Regime snipers have also been picking off locals, apparently under instructions of Gaddafi’s commanders.
The Tripoli battleground became a mass of confusion with claims rebel fighters had been shot by their own side in their enthusiasm to kill the fugitive despot.
Loyalist gunmen close to the rebel-held former Gaddafi compound Bab Aziziya also fiercely fought back with assault rifles.
The battle raged after a night of relative calm following the storming of the two-mile square complex on Wednesday.
And dozens of foreign journalists held by Gaddafi’s armed supporters at the Rixos hotel for six days were released.
But in the centre of the capital there was evidence of mass executions of political activists by his forces a few days ago as rebels closed in.
Yesterday hundreds of rebels also advanced on his hometown of Sirte, east of Tripoli, for a final battle against Gaddafi diehards.
But more than 1,000 heavily armed Gaddafi men guarded the outskirts of the coastal town as reinforcements flooded the area.
The only other major city where his forces are still in control is the desert stronghold of Sabha, 400 miles to the south of the capital.
Conflicting rumours continued to spread about the 69-year-old’s whereabouts.
And there were no signs as to when or where his TV message was recorded.
Nato jets, including RAF Tornados, carried out air strikes on loyalist positions in Tripoli and on the outskirts of Sirte. And a farm building in southern Tripoli, which had been rumoured to be where Gaddafi was hiding, was destroyed in an RAF attack.
British special forces troops are now on the ground helping in the search for Gaddafi, who has a £1million “dead or alive” bounty on his head.
As well as the SAS, our most secretive military unit the Special Reconnaissance Regiment is in Libya trying find him.
The SRR is a spin-off of 14 Intelligence Company who honed their close observation skills in Northern Ireland.
A military insider said: “British special forces are watching entry and exit points of places of interest with the whereabouts of Gaddafi very much in mind.
“Gaddafi’s continued liberty is proving to be very costly in terms of the lives of both sides and in terms of the Nato and rebel effort to get rid of him. His death or capture is what is needed so that Libya can begin the road to recovery.”
However, despite the Daily Mirror confirming through sources that special forces are in Libya, British Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox insisted there would be “no boots on the ground” in the country.
He said: “We never comment about special forces, not least because if we were to use them under those circumstances it would compromise their security.”
The National Transitional Council last night formally moved to Tripoli, in a clear sign they now have political control.
Posted in: apparently under instructions of Gaddafi’s commanders.,Regime snipers have also been picking off locals
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