Gaddafi vows it's "martyrdom or victory" in fight against rebels

NATO officials believe it is a matter of time before Qaddafi is defeated Col Muammar Gaddafi has made a speech vowing death or victory in the fight against "aggression", after Libyan rebels seized his Tripoli compound. In the audio speech, the colonel, whose whereabouts remain unknown, said he had made a "tactical" retreat from his Bab al-Aziziya compound in the capital.
But nobody really believes the claim, a BBC correspondent in Tripoli says.
The compound fell on Tuesday to the rebels, who set about demolishing symbols of Col Gaddafi's rule.
Fighters broke the head off a statue of the Libyan leader, kicking it along the ground as well as seizing items from Col Gaddafi's home.
There were pro-rebel celebrations on the main squares in Tripoli and Benghazi but pockets of the capital remain under government control and many are reluctant to celebrate openly until Col Gaddafi and his sons are captured, the BBC's Wyre Davies reports from the city.
Opinion was divided about Qaddafi's whereabouts. Colonel Ahmed Bani told Al Arabiya TV that rebels believed Qaddafi was probably holed up in one of many hideouts in Tripoli. "It will take a long time to find him," he said.
Rebel National Council chief Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, who was until February a loyal minister of Qaddafi, cautioned: "It is too early to say that the battle of Tripoli is over. That won't happen until Qaddafi and his sons are captured."
Mahmoud Shammam, the information for the rebel government, the National Transitional Council, said it didn't matter where Gadhafi was.
"In a few hours, maximum a few days, we have a new Libya, a new, liberated Libya," he said Tuesday.
A senior NATO official said the war was "not over yet, although it's close. We continue to watch for flare-ups from around the country, where there are still going to be pockets of resistance. We are also watching the chemical weapons and Scud missiles to make sure they are not used in the endgame."
A growing number of foreign countries are recognizing the rebels' National Transitional Council as Libya's rightful government.
On Wednesday, South Korea said the NTC is "the legitimate governing authority representing the Libyan people." The South Korean government said it plans to deliver humanitarian aid worth $1 million.
Shammam said the release of money that has been frozen in international banks will be critical to the rebels' ultimate success. "We need to provide ourselves with a lot of necessities and we cannot do this without money," he said.
"Please, please, please, let the international community know -- we are hungry for freedom, we are hungry for democracy, we are hungry for a state of law and order and we would like everybody, everybody everywhere in Arab countries and in the international community to support us and help us to get that."
Wednesday morning saw what appeared to new Nato air strikes in and around Tripoli, our correspondent adds, apparently targeting areas where Nato believe Col Gaddafi and his entourage are based, or where there are still pockets of resistance.
Known pockets of resistance in the capital include the Abu Salim and al-Hadba districts, and near the Hotel Rixos, where many foreign journalists are staying.
In a radio speech rebroadcast on a Libyan satellite TV channel, Col Gaddafi pledged "martyrdom or victory" in the fight against Nato and the Libyan rebels.
He said his compound had already been destroyed by 64 Nato air strikes.
"I have been out a bit in Tripoli discreetly, without being seen by people, and... I did not feel that Tripoli was in danger," he said.
Gaddafi spokesman Moussa Ibrahim also spoke to Al-Urubah TV, saying 6,000 volunteers had arrived in Libya to fight for Col Gaddafi. There was no independent confirmation of the report.
It is not known if Col Gaddafi and his family were in Bab al-Aziziya on Tuesday when it was attacked.
The Gaddafi family are believed to have access to numerous safe houses in Tripoli and beyond, and the situation is unclear in the colonel's hometown of Sirte, which has been a stronghold of his loyalists.
Some reports said retreating government troops had been heading there.
Funding appeal Members of the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC), which has so far been based in the eastern city of Benghazi, said they planned to fly to Tripoli on Wednesday to start work on forming a new government.
Rebel representatives also prepared for high-level talks in Qatar on Wednesday with envoys of the US, UK, France, Turkey and the UAE to discuss how to move ahead in the post-Gaddafi Libya.
NTC chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil said he was seeking $2.5bn (£1.5bn) in immediate aid. The US has said it will try to release up to $1.5bn in frozen Libyan assets.
Hours earlier, Gadhafi spokesman Musa Ibrahim struck an equally defiant tone when he said government forces have the power to fight in Tripoli "not just for months -- for years."
"We will turn Libya into a volcano of lava and fire under the feet of the invaders and their treacherous agents," Ibrahim said in a phone call to satellite news channels, according to Reuters.
Pro-Gadhafi forces held out pockets of resistance in Tripoli on Wednesday. They fully controlled the airport but were struggling to control an area east of it. The unexpected resistance caused them to speculate that loyalists could be protecting a high-profile figure in the vicinity.
Gadhafi forces also maintained control at the Rixos Hotel -- where international journalists are trapped. A day earlier, bullets were fired into the windows of the hotel.