Cairo/Tripoli - Fugitive Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said he is still fighting along his supporters inside the country and is ready to die as a martyr, according to loyalist websites on Tuesday.
“I am with you on the ground, though they say Gaddafi is in Venezuela or Niger,” he said in a speech aired on the Bani Walid radio station, and posted on pro-Gaddafi online groups.
Gaddafi's whereabouts have been unknown since rebels took over Tripoli in August, but he has sent several messages through loyalist media urging his followers to keep on fighting.
“Resistance and martyrdom are for heroes and we are waiting for martyrdom… do not be sad, do not become weak because victory needs patience,” he said, addressing the Warfalla tribe, which comprises almost one sixth of Libya's population of 6 million.
Bani Walid, south-east of the capital Tripoli, is one of Gaddafi's two remaining strongholds, where fighting between rebels and Gaddafi forces have been ongoing for around two weeks.
Fighting also continues in the coastal city of Sirte, the second city to be controlled by pro-Gaddafi forces.
Rebels have taken over the strategic port of Sirte, the hometown of Gaddafi, a military source told the German Press Agency dpa, adding that fighters were now advancing in a bid to take over nearby residential areas.
Colonel Roland Lavoie, spokesman of Nato's Libya mission, said that recent developments in Sirte and Bani Walid have showed that remaining Gaddafi forces refuse to recognize their defeat, and that they are hiding in urban areas and using humans as shields.
He told reporters from Naples that Nato aircraft spotted numerous staging points in densely populated areas, endangering the population. One of those areas is the premises of Sirte hospital, where Gaddafi forces feel safe from Nato aircraft.
Nato also urged the Transitional National Council to make plans to destroy chemical weapons, which were recently found by rebels in the southern desert of the country.
The council's leader, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, said on Saturday that “banned weapons” were under their control and that they will get the help of local experts and the international community to get rid of these weapons safely. - Sapa-dpa