Libyan state TV has broadcast an audio message from Colonel Gaddafi, calling on Libyan people around the country to come to Tripoli to free it from the rebels. Witnesses say rebels have taken control of the Tajoura district to the east of the city, and an important military base to the west, enabling them to seize weapons and ammunition.
Libyan rebels have reportedly reached the outskirts of Tripoli.
FOX News reported:
Euphoric Libyan rebels have pushed to the western outskirts of Tripoli without meeting any resistance after they overran a major military base that defends the capital.
Associated Press reporters with the rebels said they reached the Tripoli suburb of Janzour around nightfall Sunday. They were greeted by civilians lining the streets and waving rebel flags.
Hours earlier, the same rebel force of hundreds drove out elite forces led by Muammar al-Qaddafi’s son in a brief gunbattle. The fighters hauled off truckloads of weapons and advanced full speed toward the capital.
Inside Tripoli, there was a second day of widespread clashes between what the opposition called “sleeping cells” of rebels who are rising up and Qaddafi loyalists.
Libyan rebels captured a major military base in their assault on Tripoli, giving them access to large stores of weapons.
An Associated Press reporter with the rebels saw them take over the base of the Khamis Brigade, 16 miles west of the capital, on Sunday. The base has been defending Qaddafi’s stronghold of Tripoli. After a brief gunbattle, Qaddafi’s forces fled.