Fighting rages as Libya rebels close in on Tripoli

Explosions and gunfire rocked Tripoli on Sunday as a months-long uprising reached the Libyan capital with rebel leaders insisting they are near to ending Moamer Gaddafi’s almost 42-year rule. An operation dubbed “Mermaid” is underway in the capital with the goal of isolating the veteran leader and forcing his surrender or departure, a rebel spokesman told AFP. With rebels claiming to have seized three key towns and saying they are advancing on Tripoli from the west, the veteran leader urged supporters to “march by the millions” to liberate cities held by “traitors and rats.”
Intermittent gunfire crackled in Tripoli on Sunday morning after four strong blasts were heard shortly after 4:00 am (0200 GMT) as NATO warplanes flew overhead, an AFP journalist said. The targets were not immediately identifiable but witnesses reported clashes in several districts between insurgents and Gaddafi supporters, namely in the eastern neighbourhoods of Soug Jomaa, Arada and Tajura.
Government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim admitted there were “small clashes” that lasted 30 minutes but stressed the pro-regime volunteers and Gaddafi forces repelled insurgents who had “infiltrated” the capital.
“The situation is under control,” Ibrahim said on state television. He later told reporters “thousands” of professional and volunteer soldiers were defending the capital against rebels, whom he accused of carrying out “34 executions” and raping a number of women in the western coastal town of Sorman.
Spokesman Ahmed Jibril said “Operation Mermaid” is a joint effort between the Benghazi-based rebel National Transitional Council, insurgents fighting in and around Tripoli and NATO forces. “The operation is also in coordination with NATO,” Jibril said.
Witnesses said residents of Tajura, Soug Jomaa and Fashlum east of Tripoli took to the streets late Saturday, setting tyres ablaze while calls urging the population to rise were made from the loudspeakers of mosques. The Libyan authorities meanwhile sent text messages on mobile phones urging people to take to the streets across the country “to eliminate the traitors… with weapons.”
Rebel fighters told an AFP correspondent that they were battling Gaddafi loyalists in the Gadayem forest some 24 kilometres west of Tripoli which they hoped to reach later Sunday. “We want to go to Tripoli today,” one of the fighters, Bassam, said, adding that NATO forces had been attacking the forest all night. Another rebel, Mohammed, later said: “We have taken the forest.” The claims could not be independently verified.
A rebel doctor, Yusef Mustafa el-Deak, said that four insurgents died in the battle on Sunday, while another who declined to be named spoke of 10 rebels who had minor gunshot wounds.
The rebels have been moving from the centre of Zawiyah, one of three strategic towns on the road to Tripoli which insurgents claim to have captured over the past two days. The other two are Brega and Zliten. In his eastern stronghold of Benghazi, rebel chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil claimed that victory was within reach, six months after the insurgency was launched. “We have contacts with people from the inner circle of Gaddafi,” the chairman of the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) said on Sunday. “All evidence (shows) that the end is very near, with God’s grace.” His words prompted celebrations in rebel-held towns, including Sabratha, 50 kilometres west of Tripoli, and in Benghazi, where people crowded in front of television sets to follow the news, AFP correspondents said.