Rebels 'breach Gaddafi compound'

Libyan rebels are claiming to have breached the first security gate at Muammar Gaddafi's Tripoli compound.

Fierce battles have been raging at the Bab-Al-Aziziyah compound throughout the day with mortar and gunfire being heard, while smoke billows into the sky.

The compound, which has been heavily damaged by Nato airstrikes, has emerged as one of the centres of government resistance since tanks rolled out on Monday and began firing at rebels trying to get in.

Meanwhile, a Russian embassy source in Libya claims to have spoken to Colonel Gaddafi today who insists he is still in Tripoli and will "fight to the end".

Fighting erupted again in Tripoli today hours after Muammar Gaddafi’s son turned up free to disprove rebel claims he had been captured.

The move seems to have energised forces still loyal to the embattled regime.

Rebels and pro-regime troops fought fierce street battles in several parts of the city, a day after opposition fighters swept into the capital with relative ease, claiming to have most of it under their control.

Saif al-Islam’s sudden arrival at a Tripoli hotel where foreign journalists are staying threw the situation in the capital into confusion. The appearance of Gaddafi’s son and former heir apparent underlined the potential for the Libyan leader, whose whereabouts remain unknown, to strike back even as his grip on power seemed to be slipping fast.

Rebels say they control most of Tripoli, but they faced pockets of fierce resistance from regime loyalists firing mortars and anti-aircraft guns.

The rebel leadership seemed stunned that Saif al-Islam was free. A spokesman had no explanation and could only say, “This could be all lies.”

He could not confirm whether Saif al-Islam escaped rebel custody, but he did say that another captured Gaddafi son, Mohammed, had escaped the home arrest that rebels had placed him in a day earlier.

The Netherlands-based International Criminal Court – which indicted Saif al-Islam and his father – had announced his capture, but a spokesman admitted the court never received official confirmation from Libya’s rebel authorities that he had been arrested.