Libyan rebels fought their way into Tripoli, where jubilant music played in the streets as Libyan folk celebrated, but leader Moammar Gadhafi refused to surrender even as NATO and Obama stated his regime is collapsing.

Heavy fighting has been taking place in Tripoli around the compound of Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi after rebels seized control of much of the city. Throughout the night, jubilant crowds remained in central Green Square, previously the scene of nightly pro-Gaddafi demonstrations. A rebel spokesman informed forces loyal forces to Gaddafi still controlled only 15-20% of the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

Libya War : Civil War enters final stage

The Libyan rebels also claimed to have captured Col Moammar Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam, but the colonel Gaddafi’s whereabouts is still unknown. Euphoric Libyan rebels have moved into the centre of the capital, Tripoli, as Muammar Gaddafi’s defenders melted away and thousands of jubilant civilians rushed out of their homes to cheer the long convoys of pickup trucks packed with fighters shooting in the air in celabratory fashion. The Libyan rebels’ surprising and speedy leap forward, after six months of largely deadlocked civil war, was packed into just a few dramatic hours. By nightfall on Sunday, they had advanced more than 32km to Tripoli.

A Libyan government official said 376 people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded in the rebel assault on the capital but there was no independent confirmation of the toll. Libya’s defected ex-prime minister Abdessalam Jalloud stated he believed it was too late for Moammar Gaddafi, his former ally, to strike a deal to leave power and would likely be killed, hanged to be more precisely. There were no confirmed reports about the whereabouts of other members of the Gaddafi family.

Libyan Rebels : Operation Mermaid to Tripoli

An advance party of rebels arrived by sea in the capital early Sunday and joined sleeper cells of rebels in Tripoli to launch the final push for victory, codenamed “Mermaid,” rebel leaders said. Another rebel force advanced during the day on the capital from the west, moving in a convoy of around 100 vehicles as onlookers fired celebratory gunfire into the air.

By afternoon they had overrun the eastern suburb of Tajura and boasted that they would seize control of the capital during the night. A separate rebel party took over an army barracks at a western entrance to Tripoli, raiding the stores of missiles and other ammunition, AFP correspondents at the scene said. They also released dozens of prisoners held in Maya, 25 kilometers (15 miles) west of Tripoli, they claimed. “We will enter Tripoli in a few hours. Between now and tomorrow we expect it to fall in our hands,” said rebel commander Abdelhakim Belhaj.

Nato on Libyan leader Gaddafi : The end is near

A rebel spokesman informed the insurgents were also tightening the noose around loyalist forces in the far west of Libya, near the Tunisian border. Muammar Gadhafi, however, refused to relinquish his almost 42-year autocratic grip on power, vowing not to surrender and boasting he would “emerge victorious” in the battle for Tripoli. “We will not, we will not abandon Tripoli to the occupants and their agents. I am with you in this battle,” the Libyan strongman informed in a new audio message broadcast on Libyan television. “We do not surrender and, by God’s grace, we will emerge victorious.”

Gaddafi called on his supporters to “march on Tajura in tens of thousands to purge the officials of the colonisers,” in a reference to the NATO-backed rebels. “Today we must take over Tajura. I fear, if you let them, they will destroy Tripoli,” he warned.

Government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told reporters “thousands” of professional and volunteer soldiers were defending the capital against rebels, whom he accused of carrying out “34 executions” and raping women in the western coastal town of Sorman. A fierce gunbattle also broke out near the hotel used by the foreign media in the centre of Tripoli, an AFP correspondent said. Gunmen loyal to Gadhafi armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles opened fire from the Hotel Rixos towards the east, although their target was not visible.

The initial assault was launched soon after four strong blasts were heard at around 4:00 am (0200 GMT), and while NATO warplanes flew overhead, an AFP journalist said. Gunfire crackled intermittently while more blasts were heard. The targets were not immediately identifiable but witnesses reported clashes in several districts between insurgents and Kadhafi supporters, especially the eastern suburbs of Soug Jomaa, Arada and Tajura.

NATO said the end was near for Gadhafi . Obama stated the Gaddafi regime is about to collapse. The sound of heavy fighting and gun battles were heard in pockets of Tripoli, after rebels overnight gained control of much of the Libyan capital in a sweeping operationSaif al-Islam, his father and Libya’s intelligence chief, Abdullah al-Senussi, were indicted earlier this year for allegedly ordering, planning and participating in illegal attacks on civilians in the early days of the violent crackdown on anti-regime protesters.

Meanwhile, Gaddafi’s eldest son, Mohammed, surrendered to rebel forces and spoke to Al Jazeera shortly afterwards.
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In the interview, he took an apologetic tone and said it was a lack of wisdom that caused the revolution and crisis in Libya.

“I’ve never been a government or security official, however I can tell you the absence of wisdom and foresight is what brought us to here today. Our differences could have been solved easily,” he said.

As he spoke though, his house was attacked and shot at and the interview ended with the sound of gunfire.

“I’m being attacked right now,” he said. “This is gunfire inside my house, they’re inside my house. There is no God but Allah – no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger.”

However, the head of the National Transitional Council later told Al Jazeera that Mohammed Gaddafi, the son of Col. Gaddafi was not hurt.

Clashes near Gaddafi’s compound

The sound of heavy fighting and gun battles were heard in pockets of Tripoli, after rebels overnight gained control of much of the Libyan capital in a sweeping operation.

Clashes erupted on Monday after tanks left Bab Azaziya, Gaddafi’s compound in Tripoli, and foreign journalists have been trapped inside the Rixos hotel.

 

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