Gadhafi Defiant as Fierce Fighting Continues
Bodies of Gadhafi loyalists, their hands tied, found outside his compound.
Aug. 25, 2011 <br/>TRIPOLI — -- Another audio recording purportedly from longtime Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi was released Thursday afternoon as rebels fighters fired on Tripoli apartment buildings they believed were hiding Gadhafi and his sons. Elsewhere in the capital and near Gadhafi's hometown fierce fighting continued, showing that the loyalists were not giving in as easily as the rebels and the international community had hoped, now two days after Gadhafi's compound was overrun.
"Tripoli is for you, men and women. Go out, go out and free Tripoli. Destroy them wherever they are, fight [the rebels]," said the voice on the recording. "Let the crowds from everywhere march to Tripoli." The voice on the recording denounced the rebels as "rats, Crusaders, and unbelievers."
One fighter firing on the buildings they believed to be holding the Gadhafis told Reuters, "They are together. They are in a small hole."
"Today we finish. Today we will end that," he added, as Gadhafi fighters returned fire.
NATO and the rebels have said they believe Gadhafi is still in Libya, and on Thursday rebels and media entered the tunnels long-rumored to run under his famous Bab al-Aziziya compound looking for clues to his whereabouts. A group of businessmen have offered a $1.7 billion bounty on Gadhafi's head while the rebel council known as the National Transitional Council offered free passage out of the country.
An ABC News team explored the tunnels under the compound Thursday, finding an elaborate web that included bedrooms, offices and communications equipment. One of the tunnel exits let to a palatial home in the compound that had been burned earlier in the week. Gawkers destroyed or looted the odds and ends that had survived the fire.
Outside the Gadhafi compound, in the grass in the center of the road, were ten bloated bodies with their hands tied behind their backs. They were reportedly Gadhafi mercenaries, and seemed to have been executed. Elsewhere, Gadhafi loyalists may have engaged in their own summary killings. Al Jazeera reported Thursday that the bodies of 15 or more rebels were found executed in a Tripoli hospital.
The United Kingdom's defense secretary said Thursday that NATO is providing reconnaissance and intelligence in the search for Gadhafi but would not confirm reports that Britain's elite Special Air Service or Special Boat Service (the equivalent of the U.S. Navy SEALs) were involved.
A Pentagon spokesman said Thursday, however, that the U.S. military is not involved in the hunt for Gadhafi, and it is not a priority of the U.S./NATO mission.
"I've confirmed with folks at NATO and through the command structure that they are not involved in targeting any particular individual, that they are not involved in a manhunt," Col. Dave Lapan told reporters. "NATO itself and the U.S.'s part of NATO are not." Lapan said there were also no plans to put U.S. troops on the ground either now or after the conflict has ended.
"This is an easy way for us to stand on the side of the Libyan people, to be supportive of their efforts to put in place a government that will acknowledge freedoms, that will acknowledge democracy," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
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