TRIPOLI, Libya — Libyan rebels in hot pursuit of fugitive despot Col. Moammar Khadafy claimed Thursday to have surrounded his hideout in a Tripoli residential compound but there was no independent confirmation he was actually inside.
Hours later, and despite an intense gunfight, there was still no evidence one way or the other that the man who commanded Libya for nearly 42 years was holed up in the building.
But Khadafy was nonetheless a presence in Tripoli Thursday when a Syria-based, pro-government television station aired an audio message in which he called on Libyans to “resist these enemy rats” and urged them to “leave your homes and liberate Tripoli.”
However, it was not known when Khadafy made the recording – his third broadcast since rebels seized his massive home compound Tuesday. He has not been seen in public for weeks.
In New York Thursday, the United States and South Africa reached a deal to let the UN Security Council release $1.5 billion of seized Libyan assets for emergency aid, diplomats told AFP.
South Africa had been blocking the move at the UN sanctions committee on Libya for more than two weeks because it said channeling the money through the rebel government could imply recognition of the National Transitional Council (NTC).
The $1.5 billion is held by the United States, which wants to send $500 million to international humanitarian groups, $500 million to the NTC to pay for salaries and essential services and $500 million to an international fund for Libya to pay for fuel and other emergency items.
With a bounty of $1.7 million on his head, and the rebels determined to flush him out and declare a final victory in their six-month uprising, Khadafy has become, at least temporarily, the world’s most wanted fugitive.
Rebels thought Khadafy was hiding inside a Tripoli apartment building along with an unspecified number of his sons, according to Sky News.
A Sky correspondent at the scene said the apartment block was near Khadafy’s compound and a “massive” firefight was underway, with heavy resistance coming from the building.
The Pentagon was unable to confirm the rebel claim that Khadafy was surrounded, FOX News Channel reported.
However, a senior US defense official said, “all signs continue to suggest that Khadafy is in Tripoli.”
The Pentagon also said it could not confirm a report in Paris Match that the rebels narrowly missed capturing Khadafy Wednesday when they raided an ordinary-looking house near his compound. The French weekly said there was evidence the fugitive leader had spent at least one night there.
Rebels also stormed the Abu Salim district, one of the main holdouts of pro-Khadafy forces, Thursday after a NATO airstrike in the area, Sky said.
Meanwhile, half the NTC government arrived in Tripoli to begin the transition to a post-Khadafy era, AFP reported.
“All major posts are here,” said an NTC spokesman, adding they included health, communications, interior, justice, information and defense representatives.
Meanwhile, the question of which international powers may be helping the rebels on the ground continued to trigger debate.
British Defense Minister Liam Fox said NATO was helping the rebels find Khadafy with intelligence and reconnaissance, but the Western alliance denied his claim, AFP reported.
However, an AFP correspondent said that French and British operatives were with the rebels as they pressed toward Khadafy’s birthplace of Sirte.
Fox also declined to comment on reports Britain’s SAS special forces were working with the rebels to track down Khadafy.
In Washington, a US official told FOX News the CIA was “collecting intelligence about the situation on the ground. The US government, NATO and other foreign partners will continue to gather information to assist the Libyan people with critical security priorities.”
But Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan stressed the US was “not involved in a manhunt.”