Gaddafi vanishes as rebels triumph

Muammar Gaddafi has apparently vanished after Libyan rebels claimed to be in control of most of Tripoli following their lightning advance on the capital.
The international community called on Gaddafi to step down and moved ahead with post-war planning as euphoric residents celebrated in the Green Square, the symbolic heart of the Gaddafi regime.
Colleagues warned he would not go easily, although two of his sons were captured.
"The real moment of victory is when Gaddafi is captured," the head of the opposition's National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, said.
A top American diplomat said his whereabouts were unknown, but the US Defence Department believed he was still in the country.
Nato promised to maintain its air campaign until all pro-Gaddafi forces surrender or return to barracks. Nato planes have hit at least 40 targets in and around Tripoli in the past two days - the highest number on a single geographic location since the bombing started more than five months ago.
The rest of the city outside the square, a metropolis of some two million people, was on edge, with most stores closed and large areas appearing lifeless, without even a sign of the thousands of rebels now in the city.
The rapid rebel advance into Tripoli in an hours-long blitz demonstrated the evolution of the opposition fighters who first rose against the regime six months ago, swiftly capturing the eastern part of the vast country but failing to advance westward toward Tripoli even with the help of months of Nato airstrikes.
The rebels' top diplomat in London, Mahmud Nacua, said opposition forces controlled 95% of Tripoli. He vowed "the fighters will turn over every stone to find" Gaddafi and make sure he faced justice.
Gaddafi's former right-hand man, who defected last week to Italy, said the longtime leader would not go easily. "I think it's impossible that he'll surrender," Abdel-Salam Jalloud said, adding that "He doesn't have the courage, like Hitler, to kill himself."

 

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