[Tripoli Post] A group of rebels besieging a cluster of apartment buildings near the Bab al-Azzizyah compound were reported saying by Rooters they believed that Muammar Al Qadaffy...Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years...
was hiding in the buildings with some of his sons.
Without giving any indications why they believed Al Qadaffy was inside with his sons, the rebelswere exchanging fire with loyalist regime forces inside the buildings.
One of the rebels told Rooters: "They are together. They are in a small hole. Today we finish. Today we will end that."
In another development, citing a source in a unit which it said was co-ordinating among intelligence services from Arab states and Libyan rebels, the French weekly magazine Gay Paree Match said on Thursday that Libyan rebels fighting to oust the Libyan leader, came close to capturing tMuammar Al Qadaffy on Wednesday.
The report on the French magazine said on its website that the rebels raided a private home in Tripoli where Al Qadaffy appeared to have been hiding. They believed was still somewhere in the Libyan capital.
Al Qathaif is said to have gone from the unassuming safe house in central Tripoli "when agents arrived about 10:00 p.m. on Wednesday after a tip-off from a credible source."
However,
it's easy to be generous with someone else's money...
the magazine said, they found evidence that he had spent at least one night there - though it did not say how recently that was.
Meanwhile,
...back at the shouting match, a new, even louder, voice was to be heard...
as fighting in central Tripoli continued Thursday, with rebels claiming they believe Al Qadaffy and some of his sons are hiding., there was an exchange of fire with the regime's troops inside the buildings.
On another site, Tripoli's Corinthia Bab Africa Hotel, where numerous foreign journalists are based, was under attack Thursday afternoon. Gunfire was reported just on the doorstep of the Maltese-Libyan owned hotel.
Sniper fire was also reported as the hotel came under a gunfire attack for about 45 minutes.
An AFP correspondent reported that about 300m from the hotel, a green Al Qadaffy flag was raised on a building rooftop. It attracted the rebels' gunfire from below in the street.
Then rebel pick-up trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns converged on the hotel, and some of the fighters,, carrying small arms and rocket-launchers, took over the top floor of the hotel, which is located a few hundred metres from the centre of the Medina, which surveys the surrounding area.
The Corinthia is also about five kilometres from the Rixos Hotel, from which 33 journalists were freed on Wednesday after being held there against their will for three days by Al Qadaffy loyalists, and six or seven kilometres from Bab al-Azziziyah.
Some of the journalists who vacated the Rixos moved into the Corinthia, to join up with other colleagues who had ben there throughout the conflict..