Libyan Rebels Crush Gaddafi Holdout in Tripoli

Hardened rebel fighters streamed into Tripoli to crush resistance in the Abu Salim area of the Libyan capital. EPA/BGNES

Libyan forces have managed to overwhelm the resistance of dictator Muammar Gaddafi's loaylists in Tripoli's Abu Salim district, which saw prolonged fierce fighting.

The rebels managed to storm the Abu Salim district Thursday night after a NATO airstrike on a building in the area, Al Jazeera reported.

The intense battle on the spot raged for several hours on Thursday with 1 000 rebels surrounding two buildings filled with Gaddafi loyalists in the neighborhood next to the Libyan leader's captured compound.

The rebel fighters have started to go through the houses in the quarter in order to liquidate snipers, and have emerged with dozens of prisoners of war. However, the fighting in Tripoli as a whole has not subsided.

Earlier reports said that rebels believed Gaddafi or one of his sons may be holed up in the Abu Saleem neighborhood of Tripoli but these suspicions have not been proven.

Information about the whereabouts of the Libyan dictator remain conflicting. Rebel commander Othman Ibrahim said Thursday Gaddafi was somewhere about 150 km from Tripoli, accompanied by one of his sons, as cited by DPA.

But the Paris envoy of the rebels' Transitional National Council, Mansour Saif al-Nasr, said Gaddafi was still "in the Tripoli region."