Tripoli sewers red with blood

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This article was published 26/08/2011 (5140 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TRIPOLI, Libya — A rebel onslaught Thursday on a neighbourhood where snipers loyal to Moammar Gadhafi had holed up in residential buildings left bullet-riddled bodies in the streets, houses in flames and sewers running red with blood.

Gadhafi, on the run with his regime in tatters, still tried to rally his followers against the rebels.

The battle for the Abu Salim neighbourhood, which rebels appeared to have won by sundown, was part of their struggle to take complete control of Tripoli, four days after they swept into the capital. Though they have captured the Gadhafi’s compound and seized most of the city, rebels know they cannot declare a full victory in the six-month-old civil war as long as the leader has not been captured or killed.

There was no sign of Gadhafi or his sons, despite rumours they might be hiding in the besieged buildings.

“Fill the streets and the squares. Don’t be afraid of the raids,” Gadhafi said in a new audio message broadcast on Al-Ouroba TV, a Syria-based satellite station. “Don’t leave Tripoli for the rats. Fight them, and kill them.” He lashed out at the West, saying “NATO can’t remain in the air all the time” and Libya is “not for France and Sarkozy.”

Abu Salim, near Gadhafi’s Bab al-Aziziya compound, which was seized by rebels Tuesday, is thought to be the last major stronghold of regime brigades in Tripoli, though there has also been fighting around the airport.

Fierce battles have raged for the past few days in Abu Salim, with many of Gadhafi’s defenders who fled the Bab al-Aziziya compound thought to have moved to the adjacent neighbourhood.

Fighters in long lines of pickup trucks with weapons mounted on the back or on foot, carrying machine-guns, moved methodically through the neighbourhood, trying to clear buildings.

The streets were strewn with corpses from both sides, some on fire. The rebels covered their own with blankets. Streams of blood ran down the streets and turned sewers red.

Deafening explosions from mortars and the whistle of sniper fire filled air clogged with smoke from burning buildings and weapons fire.

Civilians in some buildings were caught in the crossfire. A mother ran out of a building under siege, screaming: “My son needs first aid.”

Gadhafi spokesman Moussa Ibrahim, in a call to The Associated Press Cairo office, said Gadhafi was still in Libya and his morale was high. Ibrahim, whose voice was recognizable, said he was also in hiding in Libya and constantly on the move. “All of the leader’s family are fine,” Ibrahim said.

Rebels said one of their key targets now is Gadhafi’s hometown, Sirte, about 400 kilometres from Tripoli, but acknowledged capturing the city would not be easy. Opposition leaders have said they are trying to negotiate a peaceful surrender.

Fighting was also said to be raging Thursday outside Bin Jawad, 650 kilometres east of Tripoli. Rebels have seized several parts of Sebha, a Gadhafi stronghold deep in the south.

Four Italian journalists taken at gunpoint were freed Thursday in a raid on the house where they were being held.

 

— The Associated Press