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Heavy fighting reported at Gadhafi compound
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CBC News- Fighting in Tripoli intensified Tuesday as rebel forces attacked Bab al-Aziziya, Moammar Gadhafi's residential compound and military barracks.
Explosions and machine-gun fire were heard near the compound, which has been damaged by NATO airstrikes.
Al-Jazeera reported that rebel forces had surrounded the compound and that some fighters had penetrated one of its outer gates.
A NATO spokesman said the situation in Libya remained dangersous, and that operations against Gadhafi's forces will continue if they keep fighting. Col. Roland Lavoie said the Libyan leader's forces have been weakened and are losing strength due to defections and desertions.
"Our military mission has not changed. It remains to protect the civilian population, enforce the no-fly zone and the arms embargo," he said. "We will conduct strikes wherever necessary to protect the population of Libya."
The whereabouts of Gadhafi, who has ruled Libya for more than 40 years, is a mystery.
"He is such a beacon, a standard, for his supporters, any thought that he may have fled or would surrender is not a reality, at least for the moment," CBC's Susan Ormiston reported from Djerba, Tunisia, where she is waiting to enter Libya.
The "danger is still there" as long as Gadhafi remains free, said rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdel-Rahman. He said pro-Gadhafi forces are positioned on Tripoli's outskirts and could "be in the middle of the city in half an hour."
Both sides have claimed to be in control of large sections of the Libyan capital.
Gadhafi's son reappears
The situation grew all the more confusing when one of Gadhafi's sons — Seif al-Islam — who had been reported captured by rebel forces a day earlier, suddenly appeared at a Tripoli hotel where foreign journalists are staying.
"We are here. This is our country. This is our people, and we live here, and we die here," he told AP Television News.
"And we are going to win, because the people are with us. That's why were are going to win. Look at them — look at them, in the streets, everywhere!"
Fadi El Abdallah, a spokesman for the International Criminal Court in Amsterdam, said the ICC never received official confirmation that Seif al-Islam, who has been indicted with his father, had been arrested.
Rescue postponed
A mission to get hundreds of migrant workers out of Tripoli is on hold due to the fighting.
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