CAIRO: According to Libyan rebels, some 400 people have been killed and another 2,000 injured in the past five days of battles in the Libyan capital of Tripoli as the fight to oust Muammar Gaddafi is in its final swing. The rebels, led by the National Transitional Council (NTC), announced on Wednesday a bounty for the Libyan leader, in power for the past 41 years, of $1.7 million and amnesty to any loyalist who turns him over. Although most of Tripoli is in the hands of the rebels, there are still a few areas where they do not control and Gaddafi forces are shooting people and firing indiscriminately. But that has not stopped celebratory gunfire from being shot off as Libyans on the whole are partying to the end of their dictator. Several rockets landed near the Tripoli International Airport – one apparently on the tarmac – and rebel commander Mukhtar al-Akhbar said Wednesday four rebel fighters were found bound and executed nearby. NATO jets are also overhead and there are sounds of explosions and automatic gunfire. Rebels say the intensity of the fighting around the airport is directly linked to Gadhafi's still unknown whereabouts. They believe loyalists are trying to clear a route for him to escape and there are suspicions he might have been traveling in a convoy. Also on Wednesday, 37 journalists who had been held hostage at the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli by loyalist fighters were allowed to leave after the soldiers guarding the hotel decided to put down their weapons, the journalists reported on their respective networks. BM
