Gadhafi, in hiding, vows no surrender

Associated Press

TRIPOLI, Libya

In a fiery broadcast from hiding, Moammar Gadhafi warned Thursday that loyalist tribes in his main strongholds were armed and preparing for battle, a show of defiance hours after rebels extended a deadline for the surrender of the fugitive leader’s hometown.

The rebels, who have been moving troops toward remaining Gadhafi bastions across Libya, had shifted the deadline for the town of Sirte in hopes of avoiding the bloodshed that met their attack on Tripoli.

“We want to save our fighters and not lose a single one in battles with Gadhafi’s forces,” said Mohammed al-Rajali, a spokesman for the rebel leadership in the eastern city of Benghazi. “In the end, we will get Sirte, even if we have to cut water and electricity” and let NATO pound it with airstrikes.

World leaders meeting in Paris on Libya’s future post-Gadhafi said the NATO military operations would continue as long as needed.

The rebels say the advance on Sirte is going well and that their forces already have captured one nearby city. They also say they are closing in on Gadhafi, who came to power 42 years ago Thursday in a military coup that toppled King Idris.