Fight goes on, says Kadhafi son: TV audio tape
AFP
NICOSIA- Seif al-Islam, fugitive son of fallen Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi, said Wednesday in an audio tape on an Arabic-language channel that he was still in Tripoli and the fight against rebels goes on.
"I am talking to you from a suburb of Tripoli," he told the Damascus-based Al-Rai television station. "We want to reassure the Libyan people that we are still here. The resistance continues and victory is near."
Al-Rai 10 days ago broadcast messages from his father, after Libyan state television fell into rebel hands.
His father is also on the run, but rebel leaders say they are sure he is still in Libya and that they are closing in on him.
Denting the festive mood as Libyans celebrated their first end of Ramadan feast in 42 years free of Kadhafi's yoke, Seif al-Islam insisted his father was fine and still fighting.
"We are fine. The leadership is fine and the leader is fine," the son said.
"We are happy, we are drinking coffee and tea with our companions and we are fighting."
East of Tripoli on Wednesday, rebels clashed sporadically with loyalists on the road from Zliten to Bani Walid, where the insurgents believe Kadhafi could be hiding.
Many believe that Kadhafi could also be holed up in his coastal hometown of Sirte east of Tripoli.
But Seif al-Islam warned in the audio message against any rebel attack on Sirte.
"They're welcome if they think the battle of Sirte will be a walkover. Twenty thousand armed men are in the town and ready" to fight, he told Al-Rai.
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