Libya rebels free 10,000 from jails

Libyan rebels have freed more than 10,000 people from Muammar Gaddafi’s prisons since entering Tripoli last week, according to a military spokesman.

But Ahmed Bani added that 50,000 people are still unaccounted for since the the capital fell.

Gaddafi’s regime sought to break the uprising that broke out in mid-February by locking up thousands of people. Many have been released, but evidence has emerged that regime forces executed large numbers of prisoners as rebels seized the capital.

Mr Bani told reporters in the eastern city of Benghazi that rebels are still searching for Gaddafi.

Rebels say many Gaddafi loyalists have fled to Sirte, headquarters of his tribe and his last major bastion.

Mr Bani said: “We hope that Gaddafi is still in Libya, so we can rid the world of this insect.”

Senior rebel officials urged Nato to maintain pressure on the remnants of Gaddafi’s regime and protect crews trying to restore critical water and power services.

“Gaddafi is still capable of doing something awful in the last moments,” the head of the rebel’s transitional government, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, told senior Nato envoys meeting in Qatar.

Rebel officials urged Nato to shift its focus to help safeguard reconstruction teams seeking to ease water and power shortages in the capital and elsewhere. Rebel leaders estimate at least 60% of Tripoli’s residents do not have enough water.

Jalal al-Digheily, who is overseeing defence issues in the rebels’ National Transitional Council, said Nato-led forces must keep watch over work crews seeking to restore services.

“Even after the fighting ends, we still need logistical and military support from Nato,” he told military chiefs of staff and other key defence officials from Nato nations.

The Nato talks in Qatar included France, Italy and Turkey. Qatar has been a leading Arab backer of the Libyan rebels and contributed warplanes to the Nato-led mission.